Harry S Truman: "Give 'em Hell"
" The Buck Stops Here"
" To Err is Truman"
Yalta Conference - Feb., 1945 (F.D.R., Stalin, & Churchill)
- free elections promised for Poland, Bulgaria, Rumania
- called for a S.F. conference to establish the U.N.
- deal made with Stalin: Soviets promised half of Sakhalin Island and the Kurile Islands from Japan & joint control over the R.R.'s in Manchuria in return for promise to attack Japan within 3 months of German defeat
The Cold War: result of the Soviet Union's desire to create a "buffer zone" in Eastern Europe and a fundamental disagreement between the U.S. and the Soviet Union over postwar arrangements in Europe (especially in Germany)
United Nations was created in April, 1945 at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco
Post war Germany: - high ranking Nazis were tired for war crimes in Nuremberg
- Germany and Berlin were divided into 3 zones of occupation (map on p. 824)
- Soviet refusal to withdraw from their eastern zone led to the creation of the "Iron Curtain"
The Soviet Union's "Berlin Blockade" in 1948 led to the "Berlin Airlift" which led to the creation of East and West Germany in 1949
George F. Kennan called for a policy of "containment" against the inherent expansionism of communism which Truman announced as the "Truman Doctrine" on March 12, 1947
-$400 million in aid > Greece and Turkey
Secretary of State George C. Marshall outline his "Marshall Plan" in June, 1947. It called for spending by Congress because it was seen as "anti-Communist"
The "Cold War" caused the United States to:
1. Create a Department of Defense headed by the Joints Chiefs of Staff
2. Create a National Security Council, the CIA< and the "Voice of America"
3. Create the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in April, 1949
Postwar Japan:
- Military leaders (Tojo) were tried for war crimes
- Occupied under General Douglas MacArthur
- Forced to write a new democratic constitution
- Emperor Hirohito was stripped of his power
In 1949 China fell to the communist creating the Peoples Republic of China - Who "lost" China?
Memobilization on the home front:
- G.I. Bill of Rights
- inflation rate of 33%
- epidemic of labor strikes
- Taft-Harley Act (1947) checked the growing powers of labor unions (outlawed the "closed shop")
1948 Election: Truman (D) v. Dewey (R ) v. Thurmond (Dixiecrat) v. Wallace (P)
Point 4 in Truman's Inaugural Address called for loans and technical aid to underdeveloped countries
President Truman's domestic policies were called the "Fair Deal": better housing, higher minimum wage, extension of Social Security benefits
June 25, 1950 - North Korea invades South Korea which led the United Nations to call upon all members to "render every assistance" to restore the peace
National Security Council Resolution #68 (NSC-68) called for a massive increase in U.S. military spending
U.S. "police action" was led by General Douglas MacArthur who called for a blockade of the China coast and airstrikes against Chinese bases which was opposed by Truman. MacArthur's insubordination led to his dismissal by Truman in April 1951
"There is no substitute for victory." v. "a limited war."
By July 1951, the war was a "stalemate"
1952 Election: Eisenhower (R ) v. Stevenson (D)
"I Like Ike" "Madly for Adlai!"
Ike's pledge that he would personally go to Korea to help end the war led to his landslide victory > Armistice signed on July 27, 1953 and Korea remained divided at the 38th Parallel