Pages 803-812 (Truman) Anti-communism and Containment, 1946-1952 late ‘46 tensions rose between U.S and USSR
‘shotgun wedding’ dissolved after defeat of Germany and Japan misunderstandings of gov’s→ powers sought greater security→ feeding fears→ Cold War
Polarization and Cold War
U.S and USSR fought over destiny of Eastern Europe
Stalin→ Soviet Sphere of Influence
Saw as crucial to Russian Society wanted to end USSR’s vulnerability to invasions from the West called for demilitarized Germany buffer zone of nations friendly to Russia in the West believed same as U.S influence in West Europe, Latin America, and Japan
FDR and Churchill agreed to Soviet Zone at Yalta
Red army occupied half of Europe after WWII put puppet gov’s→ Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania established commi regimes→ Albania and Yugoslavia nominally independent
Poland
barred free elections suppressed democratic parties ignored Declaration of Liberated Europe
USSR and US view’s of sphere of influence clashed
Truman
Saw USSR Sphere of Influence as
Violation of national self-determination
Betrayal of democracy
Cover for communist aggression believed spheres of influence precipitated both world wars only new world order based on self-determination of all nations cooperating peacefully in the United Nations could bring peace
Didn’t want to appear ‘soft on communism’ accepting ‘enforced sovietization’--> betray war aims put nations under another totalitarian dictatorship just after Hitler’s defeat hurt U.S businesses→ create lack of exports/access to raw materials
Democrats→ bring political disaster if he went back on Yalta agreements
Polish/ Eastern European-Americans keenly interested in fate of their homelands
Foreign Policy sought to ‘establish the kind of world we want to live in’
-November 1945 State Department doc encouraged by U.S monopoly of atomic weapons eager to demonstrate his command
The Iron