The Uses and Abuses of Power The Bomb and the Start of the Cold War 10 22 2015 I The Bomb In 1939 in Germany physicists split atoms 1942 Germany scientists who were refugees from Germany o warned allies that Nazi s were trying to make a super bomb o one of these scientists was albert Einstein o in response Roosevelt admin brought a large team to work on Manhattan Project code name for the secret United States project set up in Robert Oppenheimer 1942 to develop atomic bombs for use in World War II Project was the director of the Manhattan He helped to ensure the development of the atomic bomb before the axis He thought to himself that we have now created something that would bring the end of the world when the explosion first happened II WWII The Final Ledger Roosevelt died Harry Truman became president o American Navy had totally blockaded island of Japan Truman was in very difficult negations w Soviet Union and they weren t being very cooperative T also wanted to end war w Japan quickly He wanted to stop Soviets from trying to gobble up territory in Asia o gave the order to drop the atomic bomb o 33rd President of the United States o Led the U S to victory in WWII making the ultimate decision to use atomic weapons for the first time o Shaped U S foreign policy regarding the Soviet Union after Americans dropped 2 atomic bombs on Japan because Japan would the war not surrender o Aug 6 and 9th o Military leaders thrown out of Japanese cabinet o Japanese emperor went on radio and said that it was his will that the Japanese people cease fighting 9 2 Tokyo Harbor Japanese formally surrendered America occupied Japan for 5 yrs Military leader of this occupation was Gen Douglas MacArthur III Origins of the Cold War US was the most powerful nation o Only nation with atomic bomb o The war brought America out of a depression Economy was BOOMING o Beginning of the atomic age o Technology had helped win the war in part and now this new deadly technology was supposed to serve to prevent other countries from being aggressive it made things more tense particularly when USSR got bomb as well A Breakdown of the wartime alliance o France and GB and US were democracies o USSR was communist Leader of USSR was Joseph Stalin Did not trust the west Communism is very different from democracy Didn t trust west because Nazi s invaded USSR in 1941 Stalin had been begging demanding that the UK US intervene but they did not Wanted friendly communist gov ts around him that he could control o US emerged from war stronger than ever Optimistic about the way things would go American leaders ready to take on other leaders of the world o The UN International body of many countries seeking to promote peace prosperity and cooperation around the world B containment o George Kennon Facilitate cooperation in international law security economic development social programs and human rights Replaced the League of Nations Stalin said US GB and France were more of a threat to the world than Nazi Germany Truman and Churchill went to place together Churchill did his Iron Curtain Speech In the American embassy in Moscow Russia Seemingly insignificant diplomat Had been writing State Department in DC saying we need to make sure we understand the extend of the threat of USSR to US the world Was not the ambassador to USSR he was an underline Wrote a long memo 90 pgs boss wouldn t let him send it boss leaves 90 pgs condensed into 20 had article published sent it to State Department in a journal of Foreign Affairs under anonymous the US gov t should understand that the Soviets were determined not only to disrupt capitalist economies but also to threaten the American way of life said US should respond to Soviets when they tried to expand their ways to the world with counter force to contain the USSR stop spread of communism by creating alliances and helping weak countries resist Soviet advances used by every president from Truman through Reagan doctrine of containment Characteristics of American Involvement in the Cold War o 1 American Exceptionalism Americans belief in their own goodness That they are the leaders of the world and everyone should follow them Superiority of their civilization o 2 The example of Munich GB and France were allies of the Czech and the spoke out against Nazi s wanted to take Czech Munich Conference Hitler promised GB and French leaders that he did not want any more territory in Europe he just wanted this one area of Czech Leaders appeased him by turning over Sudetenland to him in exchange for his promise Said to them to not give into a dictator If you appease a dictator he will only walk all over you and take whatever he wants o 3 Belief in a Monolithic monolithic means coming from one source belief in a monolithic communist conspiracy every communist force situation is being orchestrated in the USSR and then later on China promote more revolution belief world was divided into two America democracies communist wanting everything to be communist convinced America it was all part of this big conspiracy o 4 The existence of nuclear weapons on both sides didn t start out this way USSR didn t have nuclear weapons until 1949 but once that happened situation where not only are there disagreements between various parts of the world you have the possibility that any of these disputes might escalate to the end of the world IV Beginning of the Cold War Americans weren t excited about getting involved during these fights o They wanted to keep their soldiers and dollars at home Truman was a democrat and he had to deal with republicans controlling congress Civil war raged in Greece and Turkey rebels were communist o Prior to WWII GB protects these two countries o Now GB was bankrupt so G and T were left to be corrupt taken over and become communist nations Dean Hatchenson o secretary of state o talked to congressman about desires of Truman o leaders were not receptive o said Americans would have to choose between two ways of life A Truman Doctrine B Marshall Plan o if US didn t get involved it would affect the peace of the world o America committing itself to helping free people opposed to totalitarian communist regimes o President Truman s policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology o mainly helped Greece and Turkey o belief that western Europe needed to be rebuilt o fear that because these countries were week the communist probably would take them over