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Summa ry of Events PostwarTension

In many ways, the Cold War began even before the guns fell silent in Germany and in the Pacific in 1945. Suspicion and mistrust had dcfincd U.S.-Soviet rclations for dccadcs and rcsurfaccd as soon as the alliancc against Adolf Hitler was no longer necessary. Competing ideologies and visions of the postwar world prevented U.S. president Harry S Truman and Sovict premier Joseph Stalin from working together.

Stalin intendcd to destroy Germany’s industrial capabilities in order to prcvcnt the country from rcmilitarizing and wanted Germany to pay outrageous sums in war reparations. Moreover, he wanted to erect pro-Soviet govemments throughout Eastem Europę to protect the USSR from any futurę invasions. Truman, however, wanted exactly the opposite. He believed that only industrial ization and democracy in Germany and throughout the continent would ensure postwar stability. Unable to compromise or find common ground, the world’s two remaining superpowers inevitably clashed.

Truman's Postwar Vision

Truman worked tirelessly to clean up the postwar mess and establish a new intemational order. He helped create the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and funded the rebuilding of Japan under General Douglas MacArthur. Aftcr prosccuting Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg trials, Truman in 1947 also outlined the Marshall Plan, which set aside morę than $10 billion for the rebuilding and rcindustrialization of Germany. The Marshall Plan was so succcssful that factorics in Western Europę wcrc exceeding their prewar production levels within just a few ycars.

Stalin's Postwar Vision

Although Stalin joined with the United States in founding the United Nations, hc fought Truman on ncarly cvery other issuc. He protested the Marshall Plan as well as the formation of the World Bank and IMF. In dcfiancc, hc followcd through on his plan to create a buffer bctwccn the Sovict Union and Germany by setting up pro-Communist governments in Poland and other Eastem European countries. As a result, the so-called iron curtain soon divided East from West in Europę. Stalin also tried unsuccessfully to drive French, British, and American occupation forces from the German city of Berlin by blocking highway and railway access. Determined not to let the city fali, Truman ordered the Berlin airlift to drop food and medical supplies for starving Berliners.

Containment

The Berlin crisis, as well as the formation of the Fastern bloc of Soviet-dominated countries in Eastem Europę, caused foreign policy officials in Washington to believe that the United States needed tocheck Soviet influence abroad in order to prevent the further spread of Communism. In 1947, Truman incorporated this desire for containment into his Truman Doctrinc, which vowed to support free nations fighting Communism. Hc and Congrcss then plcdgcd $400 million to fighting Communist rcvolutionaries in Grcccc and Turkcy. In 1949, Truman also convinccd the Western European powers to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), so that they might mutually defend themselves against the danger of Soviet invasion. Threatened, the USSR sponsored a similar treaty of its own in Eastem Europę, called the Warsaw Pact, in 1955.

Truman at Home

In the domestic policy arena, Truman signed the National Security Act in 1947 to restructure America’s defenses for the new Communist threat. The act reorganized the military under the new officc of the secretary of defense and the new Joint Chiefs of Staff. It also created the National Security Council to advise the president on global affairs and the Central Intelligence Agency to conduct espionage. Truman’s leadership in confronting the Soviet Union and rebuilding Europę convinced Democrats to nominate him again for the 1948