PEOPLE
Winston Churchill
.
Prime
Minister of Great Britain from 1940-45, again from 1951-55
.
Led
Britain through period of lonely resistance to Hitler's expansion before U.S.
and U.S.S.R. entered war in 1941
.
Frequently
met with U.S. President Roosevelt and Soviet Premier Stalin to plan Allied war
strategy
.
After
1945, favored strong stand against Soviets; delivered famous "Iron
Curtain" speech in Missouri, 1946
Franklin D. Roosevelt
.
Democratic
President of the U.S. first elected in 1932 during Great Depression; reelected
in 1936, 1940, and 1944
.
Served
as President for all but 4 months of World War II
.
Met
with Stalin at conferences at Yalta and Tehran; believed wartime alliance could
be extended into future but failed to establish workable framework for peaceful
cooperation between U.S.S.R. and U.S.
.
Died
of a stroke in April 1945; succeeded by his vice president, Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
.
Democratic
Vice President under President Franklin D. Roosevelt
.
Became
President after Roosevelt's death in April 1945, during last months of World
War II
.
Met
with Stalin at Potsdam, soon led U.S. into anti-Soviet Cold War posture
.
Led
U.S. through most of unsuccessful Korean War
Josef Stalin
.
Soviet
dictator from 1922 until death in 1953
.
Uneasy
ally of U.S. and Britain during World War II; oversaw successful war effort
that nonetheless cost more than 20 million Soviet lives
.
In
negotiations over postwar order, demanded Soviet domination of Eastern Europe
in order to guarantee Soviets would not be invaded again by Germany
.
Became
fearsome enemy of U.S. in early years of Cold War
Nikita Khrushchev
.
Soviet
leader following Stalin's death, 1953
.
Initially
more open to dialogue with West and within Soviet sphere
.
Denounced
Stalin's crimes in secret speech to Soviet leadership, 1956
.
Adopted
a harder line against West after 1960; led Soviet Union during Cuban Missile
Crisis
George Kennan
.
American
diplomat, author of "Long Telegram" that proposed U.S. policy of
containment of U.S.S.R., 1946
.
Kennan's
thinking shaped American policy through early years of Cold War
Dwight D. Eisenhower
.
Republican
elected President of the U.S. in 1952 and again in 1956
.
Served
as Supreme Commander of Allied forces in Europe during WWII
.
Took
office promising to end stalemate of unpopular Korean War
.
Authorized
overthrow of left-leaning governments in Guatemala and Iran
EVENTS
1945 Yalta
Conference
.
Final
meeting of Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill
.
Attempted
to negotiate plans for post-WWII order
.
Stalin
signed statement promising to uphold democratic principles, but Roosevelt and
Churchill tacitly accepted Soviet domination of Eastern Europe
.
Confusion
over true meaning of Yalta agreements led to later charges of betrayal
1945 Potsdam
Conference
.
Follow-up
to Yalta Conference featured further negotiations among Stalin, Truman (who
replaced dead FDR), and Churchill (until he was replaced by Clement Attlee
after losing British election halfway through conference)
.
Allies
agreed to establish separate zones of military administration of Germany
.
Tone
of conference was more contentious than Yalta as Cold War tensions already
began to surface
1945 Atomic
Bombings in Japan
.
"Little
Boy" bomb dropped on Hiroshima, 6 August; "Fat Man" bomb dropped on Nagasaki, 9
August
.
First
and only nuclear attacks in world history
.
American
policymakers may have intended bomb to intimidate Soviets as well as defeat
Japanese
1946 Long Telegram
.
Diplomat
George Kennan proposed policy of firm containment of U.S.S.R.
.
Truman
enshrined containment as official policy in 1947 Truman Doctrine
1948 Berlin Airlift
.
U.S.S.R.
blockaded city of Berlin, located in Soviet zone of occupation in eastern
Germany
.
Americans
organized yearlong airlift to provide city with food and supplies
.
Soviets
abandoned blockade in defeat in 1949
.
First
major confrontation of Cold War
1949 NATO Organized
.
Western
powers formed formal military alliance, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization,
to coordinate defense against Soviet bloc
.
Soviets
soon responded by forming Warsaw Pact
1949 Soviet Bomb
.
Soviets
shocked world by announcing successful test of atomic weapon
.
Ended
American nuclear monopoly much sooner than U.S. intelligence anticipated
.
Raised
(unfounded) fears that Soviets would soon overtake Americans in arms race
1949 Fall of China
.
Mao
Zedong's Communists defeated Chiang Kai-Shek's Nationalists to end long Chinese
Civil War
.
Nationalists
fled to Taiwan
.
Many
Americans blamed Truman Administration for "loss of China"
1950 Korean War
.
Communist
North Koreans invaded anticommunist South Korea, nearly captured entire country
.
With
UN blessing, Americans intervened on behalf of South Korea
.
Americans
drove North Koreans all the way to border with China, prompting surprise
intervention by Chinese troops, which then drove Americans back toward south
.
War
ended in stalemate, with both sides dug in near original 1950 border
.
Unsuccessful
war made Truman one of least popular presidents ever; history has been kinder
in its judgment
1957 Sputnik
.
Soviets
launched Sputnik, first man-made satellite to orbit Earth
.
Shocked
Americans, spurring huge increase in government spending on science and defense
.
Began
the Space Age
1956 Hungarian
Revolution
.
Students
demanded changes in Communist government, backed reformist government of Imre
Nagy
.
Rebellion
crushed by invasion of Soviet Red Army; Nagy executed in 1958
.
U.S.
did not intervene
1960 U2 Shot Down
.
American
U2 spy plane shot down in Soviet airspace
.
Relations
between U.S. and U.S.S.R., which had been thawing, grew colder once again
GROUPS
Manhattan Project
.
Top-secret
government research program run by J. Robert Oppenheimer during WWII
.
Developed
the world's first atomic bombs
NATO
.
North
Atlantic Treaty Organization
.
Military
alliance of U.S. and Western European formed to unite defense against U.S.S.R.
Warsaw Pact
.
Communist
counterpart to NATO
.
Comprised
of Soviet Union and Soviet satellite nations of Eastern Europe
Central Intelligence
Agency
.
Organized
in 1947 to oversee all foreign intelligence and counterintelligence operations
for United States
.
During
Eisenhower administration, staged anticommunist coups in Iran and Guatemala
CONCEPTS
Containment
.
American
policy built upon assumption that U.S.S.R. was by nature an expansionist but
cautious power, and thus U.S. should meet every attempt to expand Soviet
influence with appropriate "counterforce"
.
Proposed
by diplomat George F. Kennan, adopted as policy in Truman Doctrine
Eisenhower Doctrine
.
U.S.
formally extended policy of containment to cover Middle East
.
Announced
by Eisenhower (obviously)
Brinksmanship
.
Practice
of pushing conflict to brink of disaster in order to force opponent to relent
.
Practiced
by Cold War leaders in Washington and Moscow in Cuban Missile Crisis, Berlin
Airlift
Domino Theory
.
American
foreign policy theory that suggested that the fall of one nation to Communism
would encourage spread of Communism to neighboring countries
.
Encouraged
hard line against Communist expansion, anywhere and everywhere
.
Made
it difficult for U.S. to back down from doomed military commitment in Vietnam
PLACES
Berlin, Germany
.
Capital
of Germany until 1945
.
Divided
into four separate zones of occupation after WWII
.
American,
British, and French zones a virtual island, surrounded by Soviet-controlled
zone of eastern Germany
.
Soviets
attempted to blockade the city in 1948; thwarted by American airlift of
supplies
Iran
.
Site
of CIA-sponsored coup against democratically elected but left-leaning
government of Mohammed Mosaddegh, 1953
.
Coup
gave rise to strong anti-American sentiment in Iran
Potsdam, Germany
.
Site
of last Allied conference of World War II
.
Potsdam
Conference failed to create framework for peaceful coexistence of U.S.S.R. and
Western powers in postwar period
.
First
confrontation between Stalin and Truman
.
Japanese
attack on American naval base in Hawaii forced U.S. to enter World War II
.
Demands
of war economy finally did what New Deal could not do, lifting U.S. out of
Great Depression