0:04

From boomers to millennials is a modern

0:06

US history podcast, providing

0:09

a fresh look at the historical events

0:11

that shaped current generations from

0:13

the Cold War era to the present.

0:16

Welcome to 1947

0:19

Aka episode two scaring

0:21

the hell out of the American people.

0:24

Last week, we concluded with Winston

0:27

Churchill's Iron Curtain speech foreshadowing

0:29

the growing concern of western powers

0:32

over Soviet domination of

0:34

eastern Europe. The

0:36

Soviet Union's military forces had driven the Nazi

0:39

tyranny out of this region, but the

0:41

Russian communists were soon instituting

0:43

their own forms of oppression by prohibiting

0:45

groups that weren't loyal to Moscow from

0:48

having any power or influence. The

0:50

main theme of today's episode is

0:52

US international relations after World

0:55

War II, as the optimistic hopes

0:58

for a peaceful global future gave

1:00

way to the fear and paranoia

1:03

of the Cold War. To help

1:05

you understand the rise of the

1:07

Cold War, we need to briefly explain the origin

1:09

of the Soviet Union. A country

1:11

that no longer exists and

1:14

to offer some background about its communist

1:16

economic system was socialist

1:19

and even Marxist ideas being increasingly

1:21

influential and relevant. Again in

1:24

our current age of growing income inequality.

1:27

It is helpful to understand why there is

1:29

such a generational divide regarding

1:31

perceptions of terms like socialism.

1:34

Here's a very quick and massively

1:37

over-simplified summary. In the 19th

1:39

century, the German economist, Karl

1:42

Marx , published his theory that capitalism

1:45

would meet its demise when the industrial

1:47

workers over through big property owners

1:49

and instead ran society themselves

1:51

on a more equal basis. Early

1:54

on, the term socialism and communism

1:56

were often used almost interchangeably

1:59

by those influenced by Marx's ideas,

2:02

but in many countries, the communists became

2:04

a more radical hard line faction

2:07

than the self-proclaimed socialists were

2:09

adherence of a moderate branch of the socialist

2:12

tradition. The social democratic parties

2:15

would eventually become successful mainstream

2:17

movements in many European

2:19

countries from the early 20th

2:21

century all the way up to the

2:24

present day, and they have been particularly prosperous

2:26

in Scandinavia. Many

2:28

politicians in the English speaking world

2:31

who now claim to be Socialists are

2:33

followers of this social democratic

2:36

tradition, which features a regulated

2:38

market, high taxes, and many

2:40

widely available government runs services

2:43

within a multi-party democracy.Compare

2:46

this with the radical communists

2:48

who often wanted to abolish private property,

2:51

marginalize or ban non-socialist parties,

2:54

and to replace all existing social,

2:57

religious, economic, and institutions.

3:00

Hardly anyone expected communist

3:03

ideas to take over Russia, which

3:05

had few industrial workers, but many

3:07

peasants. It was one of the most

3:09

traditional societies with one

3:11

of the most rigid monarchies

3:14

in Europe during the 1800s; however,

3:17

the Russian monarchy fell apart during

3:19

World War One. In 1917

3:22

a radical faction of communist revolutionaries

3:25

seize power led by a man with

3:27

a famous name and an equally famous

3:29

goatee Vladimir Lenin,

3:32

the nation state they created in what

3:34

was formerly the Russian empire,

3:37

was called the Union of Soviet socialist

3:40

republics, USSR

3:42

or Soviet

3:44

Union for short, and it collectivized private

3:46

property, which would now be controlled

3:48

and distributed by the communist central

3:51

government under a so-called dictatorship

3:54

of the proletariat. When

3:56

Lennon died during the 1920s

3:58

Joseph Stalin became the new leader

4:00

of the Soviet Union. He is

4:02

known to this day as one of

4:04

the most brutal dictators in history,

4:07

a paranoid and merciless man

4:10

stolen , pretty much jailed or executed

4:12

anyone he viewed as an enemy or

4:14

critic of his governance of the

4:16

Soviet state. He was responsible

4:19

for the deaths of millions, even

4:21

among socialists or Marxists.

4:23

Today, very few people outside of

4:26

Russia defend his actions

4:28

in a remarkable development, stolen

4:31

, temporarily aligned with the fascist

4:33

Nazi government of Germany in

4:35

1939 despite

4:37

communists and fascists supposedly

4:40

being mortal political enemies,

4:43

both nations agreed to grab a chunk

4:45

of formerly independent Poland

4:48

for themselves during that year. However,

4:51

trusting Hitler turned out to be a mistake.

4:54

I know. Shocking, right, and

4:56

the Nazis invaded the

4:58

Soviet Union in 1941 the

5:00

Soviets then shifted to ally

5:02

with the British and Americans to

5:04

collectively defeat Germany after

5:07

an epic and brutal conflict

5:10

along World War II eastern front,

5:12

which included the biggest tank battle in

5:14

the history of the world. The Soviets

5:17

eventually repelled the Nazis and

5:19

then pushed their way across eastern Europe

5:21

to Berlin. Their Hitler

5:24

committed suicide in his bunker as

5:27

the communist Red Army closed. In. Meanwhile,

5:30

the Americans and British had been gaining

5:32

ground against the Nazis on the

5:34

western front, and by 1945

5:37

they occupied western Germany. The

5:39

defeated German nation was divided

5:42

up between the various allied powers

5:44

and the armies of the capitalistic democracies

5:47

and the communist military forces

5:50

eyed each other uneasily across

5:52

the divide. That quick overview

5:55

brings us up to date for our story

5:57

of 1947 back

5:59

in the USA, President Truman

6:02

and his fellow Democrats faced

6:04

headaches, handling both foreign and

6:06

domestic issues now that Republicans

6:08

had captured Congress. As discussed in

6:10

our last episode, the GOP

6:13

won in part by capitalizing on a backlash

6:15

against strikes by militant labor unions.

6:18

In spring 1947 the

6:20

new Congress quickly passed the

6:23

Taft-Hartley Act, which weaken the power of labor unions

6:26

to strike. The bill was named

6:28

for conservative Republican Senator

6:30

Robert, a Taft of Ohio,

6:32

who plays a role later in this episode and

6:35

his house co-sponsor . Apparently

6:38

some guy named Hartley who we will never

6:40

mention again. The acts provisions

6:42

allowed the president to enact a cooling

6:44

off period before some strikes could

6:46

be allowed . It band closed

6:48

shops where you must be in the union

6:51

to get hired and it gave states

6:53

the power to pass right to work laws

6:55

that would make it harder for unions to organize.

6:58

It also forced union leaders to sign

7:01

affidavits, swearing they weren't

7:03

communists in order to participate

7:05

in collective bargaining. Big

7:08

labor unions were outraged by the bill

7:10

and Truman having recently dissapointed

7:13

these important Democratic Party constituents

7:16

by opposing most of their strikes during

7:18

1946 was

7:20

persuaded to veto the

7:23

Taft-Hartley Act. However, the bill had strong

7:25

congressional support among both

7:27

Republicans and conservative Democrats,

7:30

which were actually a major thing back then and

7:33

together they had enough votes to

7:35

overturn Truman's veto and

7:37

make Taft-Hartley the labor law

7:39

of the land. During summer 1947

7:42

historian James T. Patterson suggests

7:45

that big labor overestimated

7:47

the threat posed by the bill because

7:49

soon quote, most unions

7:51

managed to live within the law. Close

7:53

quote. It was a setback to

7:55

be sure, but labor unions would

7:58

remain a powerful force advocating

8:00

for American workers and checking

8:02

the power of corporate management for

8:04

the next three decades, regardless

8:07

of whether they were blue collar Labor supporters

8:10

or white collar management sympathizers

8:13

in their downtime. Americans

8:15

in 1947 flock to

8:17

afternoon baseball games regardless

8:20

of social class, women wore dresses

8:22

and men sported suits and formal

8:25

hats going out in public

8:27

and a tee shirt and jeans even to

8:29

a baseball game was not

8:31

socially acceptable in this

8:33

era, which is a dramatic contrast

8:36

with our own time when you see people

8:38

showing up to the symphony and jeans.

8:41

Anyway, Major League baseball

8:43

was by far the most popular

8:45

professional sport in America during

8:47

this time period, but not until

8:50

1947 did the game finally

8:52

open up to all Americans. Black

8:55

had previously been segregated into

8:58

a separate so-called Negro

9:00

League, but in 1947

9:02

the Brooklyn Dodgers, they weren't in

9:04

Los Angeles yet, challenged this

9:06

athletic apartheid by

9:08

calling up second baseman , Jackie

9:11

Robinson to the big leagues from their triple

9:13

a minor league team in Montreal

9:16

two years prior. The franchise had signed

9:18

the Young African American player who

9:21

had been a multi-sport standout

9:23

in his college years at UCLA and

9:25

who had been playing baseball in the

9:28

Negro Leagues. Upon making his major league

9:30

debut with the Dodgers during the 1947

9:33

season, Robinson faced great

9:35

pressure to play and conduct himself

9:37

well so that America's black population

9:40

would be given further opportunities to

9:42

excel in professional sports and

9:44

in various other fields. Furthermore,

9:47

he endured threats from audiences,

9:50

cheap shots from opposing players

9:53

and even experienced some hostility

9:55

from teammates for a time he

9:58

responded with nothing but high quality

10:00

play. Winning

10:02

Major League Baseball's rookie of the year award and leading

10:05

the Dodgers to the world series where

10:07

they lost in seven games to the mighty

10:09

New York Yankees. Robinson

10:11

endured provocations with

10:14

dignity and nonviolence, which

10:16

would serve as an example and model

10:18

for the civil rights movements that

10:20

followed in the next quarter century. Robinson's

10:23

restraint in the face of jeering fans

10:25

and opponents in order to break the

10:27

color barrier took great discipline

10:30

and courage, but bravery of

10:32

a more short term and high flying

10:34

variety allowed us aviators

10:36

to break the sound barrier. In 1947

10:40

a former World War II fighter pilot

10:43

named Chuck Yeager accomplished

10:45

this feat over southern California's

10:47

Mojave desert in an experimental

10:49

x one aircraft which

10:52

he nicknamed Glamorous Glennis as

10:54

a tribute to his wife. He

10:56

flew faster than any previous pilot

10:58

despite having broken two ribs

11:01

from a recent horseback riding accident.

11:04

It was an almost too perfect embodiment

11:06

of the increasingly common metaphor.

11:08

The pilots were modern day cowboys

11:10

exploring a new frontier. Yeager

11:13

reached to speed of Mach 1.06

11:16

at an altitude of over 40,000

11:19

feet. He proved the sound

11:21

barrier could be broken without

11:23

wrecking the aircraft or worse

11:25

its pilot. This was an early

11:28

example of the aeronautics innovations

11:30

that would make the future advances of the

11:32

u s space program possible.

11:35

It remains to be seen whether these leaps

11:38

would serve peaceful scientific purposes

11:40

or be wielded to destructive ends

11:43

. That depended in part on

11:45

the international diplomatic chess match

11:47

that came to a head during 1947

11:50

the big question national governments

11:52

around the had during and

11:54

after the catastrophic Second World

11:56

War was how can we prevent

11:59

a conflict to this deadly and destructive

12:01

from ever happening again. To

12:04

understand the earliest allied blueprints

12:06

for a postwar world, we

12:08

need to make a quick detour back to

12:10

summer 1941 when

12:13

a secret meeting between two iconic

12:15

world leaders took place in the middle

12:17

of the Atlantic aboard the British battleship,

12:20

HMS Prince of Wales,

12:23

their US president, Franklin

12:25

Roosevelt and UK Prime Minister Winston

12:28

Churchill, covertly planned their military

12:30

cooperation against the axis

12:32

powers and alliance that would not

12:35

become official until Germany

12:37

and Japan declared war on the

12:39

u s in December of that same year. One

12:42

important result of that meeting in the

12:44

Atlantic was a joint declaration

12:46

of principles released to the press

12:48

on August 12th which has become

12:50

known to history as the Atlantic

12:52

Charter. Churchill and

12:54

FDR vowed to uphold the quote,

12:57

the right of all peoples to choose

12:59

the form of government under which they will live

13:02

close quote, as well as to promote

13:04

free trade, improved social

13:06

conditions for workers, the

13:08

abandonment of military aggression by

13:10

nation states and the establishment

13:13

of a long lasting peace by

13:15

means of a quote unquote permanent

13:18

system of general security. Churchill

13:21

reluctantly agreed to some of these principles

13:24

hoping they would not be applied too quickly

13:26

or too literally within his beloved

13:29

British Empire. Unlike

13:31

Roosevelt, the consummate Patriotic

13:33

Englishman wasn't keen on

13:35

allowing all the peoples around the world

13:37

who were under British imperial rule

13:40

to gain immediate independence after

13:43

the allied victory in World War Two

13:45

the Atlantic Charter is theoretical permanent

13:48

system of general security became

13:50

reality in the form of the

13:53

United Nations. In designing it, diplomats

13:55

tried to avoid the mistakes of

13:57

the League of nations, which u

13:59

s President Woodrow Wilson had championed

14:02

after World War One, but had been

14:04

unable to get his own country to join.

14:06

Congress voted against membership. The

14:09

league famously proved inept

14:11

at stopping military aggression during

14:13

the 1930s so

14:15

it was disbanded at the end of the war. It

14:17

had been designed to prevent in the 1940s

14:21

historian Elizabeth Borgwardt in

14:23

her book a new deal for the world, America's

14:26

vision for human rights sites

14:28

. A 1943 Gallup poll

14:30

that found 73% of Americans

14:33

wanted to see the u s joined some

14:35

kind of post war organization

14:37

of Nations after Pearl

14:40

Harbor. Most Americans realize that

14:42

greater u s involvement in the world

14:44

and cooperation with allies was

14:46

unavoidable. Beauregard

14:48

called this the multilateral

14:51

moment at time in the mid 1940s

14:54

when there was a public mood favoring

14:57

multi-party international agreements, recognizing

15:00

a need for a strong unifying organization.

15:03

Delegates from around the world traveled

15:05

to San Francisco in early 1945

15:08

to draft a charter that would organize

15:10

and govern a new and hopefully

15:12

better peacekeeping institution. The

15:16

United Nations consisted of a general assembly with

15:19

one vote per member nation and

15:21

a Security Council consisting

15:23

of five great powers, the United

15:26

States, Soviet Union, Britain, France,

15:28

and China. Each with veto power

15:31

over counseled decisions. At

15:34

the San Francisco Conference, the

15:36

smaller states successfully lobbied

15:38

the major powers to give more authority

15:40

to the general assembly, but critics

15:42

still complained that the charter gave

15:46

the Security Council too much power. The UN

15:48

would in practice be an important

15:50

institution for international cooperation,

15:54

but the organization lacked the power

15:56

to enforce most of its resolutions

15:58

within member states, so

16:00

fears that it would become a heavy handed

16:02

world. The government were generally unfounded.

16:06

The new United Nations articulated

16:08

some of humanity's highest ideals

16:10

and aspirations in its

16:12

universal declaration of human rights.

16:15

The commission that produced the declaration

16:17

was chaired by a well known American Eleanor

16:20

Roosevelt widow of FDR and a dynamic

16:23

political organizer and activist

16:25

in her own right. The document

16:28

which was adopted by the

16:30

General Assembly in 1948 stated that

16:32

the basic rights of all individuals around

16:34

the globe, not just the rights of nation

16:37

states, were a central concern

16:39

of international institutions. The

16:41

declaration was a statement acknowledging

16:43

fundamental individual human rights.

16:46

It was a statement of ideal principles

16:48

like the Atlantic charter rather

16:51

than a binding treaty commitment

16:53

with legal enforcement mechanisms.

16:56

If the United Nations offered the political

16:58

blueprint for a stable postwar

17:00

world, Americans intended

17:02

the 1944 Bretton

17:04

Woods conference to create an economic

17:06

counterpart as a framework for

17:09

a prosperous planet. Many

17:11

economists believe that tariff barriers,

17:13

trade wars and currency manipulations

17:16

during the 1930s had helped

17:18

bring about World War II. The

17:20

agreement made at the conference founded

17:23

to multilateral economic institutions,

17:26

the International Monetary Fund or

17:28

IMF and the

17:30

World Bank in order to prevent such commercial tensions

17:33

in the future. In the conclusion

17:35

to his book offering a brief introduction

17:37

to the new deal and its legacies,

17:39

historian Eric Roush way reflects

17:42

quote, where IMF was

17:44

supposed to allow countries to weather the

17:46

vicissitudes of free economies.

17:48

The bank was supposed to lend money

17:50

for the repair of war damage and

17:52

for long poor countries to enter the club

17:55

of modern nations. Close quote,

17:57

the Soviets were invited to join these organizations,

18:00

but they refused to participate. Some

18:03

European nations reluctantly got involved

18:06

with the IMF and the World Bank expressing

18:08

concern that they may be structured to favor

18:11

the American dollar against their own currencies.

18:14

The IMF and World Bank along with

18:16

the UN are still influential to

18:18

this day. They have many defenders

18:20

and advocates, but they received criticism

18:23

from nationalists on the right and

18:25

anti-globalization activists on

18:27

the left. The negotiators who

18:29

framed these institutions, however, had

18:32

no secret agenda for either global

18:34

government or American domination.

18:37

Rather, they tried to facilitate

18:39

the global stability necessary

18:41

for peace time commercial exchange

18:44

in some postwar international

18:46

organizations were an imperfect compromise

18:49

between the humanitarian sentiments

18:51

of idealistic activists and

18:53

the raw self interests of various stakeholders

18:56

. Some Americans strongly oppose

18:58

these global entities. According

19:01

to boardwalk its account. Robert

19:03

Taft of Ohio, leader of the isolationists

19:05

faction in the u s Senate complained

19:08

the pledging American funds to the internationally

19:10

controlled IMF would be quote,

19:13

pouring money down a rat hole. Taft

19:16

also alleged United Nations advocates

19:18

were reckless quote, do gooders

19:20

who regarded as the manifest destiny of

19:22

America to confer the benefits of

19:24

the new deal on every hot and Todd

19:27

. Close quote, hot and

19:29

tot was a derogatory term once

19:31

used to describe tribal peoples in Africa,

19:34

taps isolation is faction especially

19:36

strong among Midwestern

19:39

Republicans, embodied and America first mentality

19:41

that still influences us politics.

19:44

This ideology holds that the federal

19:46

government should only attempt to help

19:48

us citizens, that international

19:50

engagements are best avoided, that

19:53

foreigners are often suspicious

19:55

and may have questionable values, and

19:58

that multilateral organizations waste

20:00

American resources and threatened American

20:02

freedoms. This type of isolationism

20:06

had been popular during the 1920s and

20:08

thirties however, in the aftermath

20:10

of the Second World War, many Americans

20:12

believed we risked global instability

20:15

and a return to World War II if

20:17

we repeated our post World War one

20:19

mistake of shunning international

20:22

peacekeeping institutions. This

20:24

argument helped persuade the U S congress

20:26

to approve both the

20:29

United Nations Charter and the Bretton Woods institutions

20:32

during the summer of 1945

20:34

however, the hopeful architects of

20:36

postwar peace and prosperity had

20:39

to face the new dangers posed by atomic

20:41

weapons. These were controlled by

20:43

the u s military during World

20:45

War II , but the atomic energy act of 1946

20:49

had established civilian political control

20:51

of the nuclear stockpile, which

20:53

according to Patterson in 1947

20:56

consisted of just 13 atomic

20:58

bombs. The U S had an intimidating

21:01

nuclear monopoly after demonstrating

21:03

the awful efficiency of these weapons

21:06

for destroying entire cities.

21:08

The Americans and the British tried

21:10

to keep their Soviet allies mostly

21:12

in the dark about the development of atomic

21:14

weapons during the war, but the Soviets

21:17

had spies in the u s nuclear program,

21:19

so their existence was not a shock to them.

21:22

There were some discussions about nuclear

21:24

weapons being controlled by an international

21:26

commission in order to prevent an arms

21:28

race, but cold war tensions soon

21:31

put an end to that possibility. Those

21:33

tensions first became obvious toward

21:35

the end of World War II. During the

21:38

Yalta Conference, one of the final meetings between Roosevelt,

21:41

Churchill and Stalin, it

21:43

occurred in the Soviet Union on the shores

21:45

of the Black Sea. During February,

21:48

1945 one of the last months of FTRs life

21:51

there Stalin's plans for eastern Europe

21:53

became more apparent and they looked suspiciously

21:56

like a permanent expansion of Soviet

21:58

control into that area. However,

22:01

the U S had little power to dictate policy

22:04

to its Soviet allies because

22:06

they still had a huge army occupying the

22:08

region. According to Borgwardt,

22:10

one of the failings of the agreement reached

22:12

at yell to was that it allowed the Soviets

22:15

to send any Russian found in eastern

22:17

Europe back to the USSR. Many

22:20

of these individuals, including former POW,

22:23

is held by the axis. Powers were

22:25

subsequently sent to the Gulag, Stalin's

22:27

infamous set of Siberian forced

22:30

labor prison camps based upon

22:32

suspicion of their disloyalty under

22:34

pressure from the u s and the UK stolen

22:37

claimed free democratic elections would

22:39

eventually take place in nations such

22:42

as Poland. One source of us

22:44

exasperations with the Soviets was

22:46

their failure to live up to this vow . Historian.

22:50

John Lewis Gaddes writes in his book the

22:53

Cold War, a new history quote, because

22:55

the Poles would never elect a pro Soviet

22:57

government. Stalin imposed one.

22:59

The cost though was a permanently resentful

23:02

Poland as well as a growing sense

23:04

among his American and British allies

23:06

that they could no longer trust him as

23:09

a disillusioned Roosevelt put it two weeks

23:11

before his death stolen has broken

23:13

every one of the promises he made at yell

23:15

to close quote. After

23:18

FDRs death, Truman and his advisers

23:20

viewed this deception as proof

23:22

of Stalin's bad faith and of hostile

23:24

Soviet intentions. After

23:26

World War II stolen seemed to confirm

23:29

Western suspicions by pressuring

23:31

Turkey to host Soviet military

23:34

bases and by neglecting to remove Red

23:36

Army troops from northern Iran. Once the

23:38

war ended under pressure from

23:40

the United States and its allies in the international

23:43

community, he backed down from plans

23:45

regarding Turkey and he finally

23:47

removed his troops from Iranian soil.

23:50

Still, his actions made it appear Stalin

23:52

was eager to expand Soviet influence

23:54

whenever given the chance. Many

23:57

historians argue over which side deserves

23:59

more blame for the outbreak of the

24:01

Cold War. This podcast is more concerned

24:04

with how and why it happened from a

24:06

u s history perspective. The

24:08

following though is a brief summary of the debate.

24:11

Those historians who blame the Soviets

24:14

emphasize solids misdeeds both

24:16

at home and in eastern Europe and

24:18

his rhetoric emphasizing communism's

24:21

inherent conflict with capitalism.

24:23

Other reasons include the Soviet's attempts

24:26

to control neighboring territory in Europe

24:28

and Asia, their totalitarian

24:30

governments, repression of individual freedoms.

24:33

They're appalling human rights record, including

24:36

mass purges of dissenters during the 1930s

24:39

there prior cynical packed with the Nazis

24:41

there Marxists Leninist ideology that

24:44

led to hostility toward the capitalist

24:46

West and their maintenance of

24:48

a massively built up military even

24:50

after the war. Scholars who primarily

24:52

blame the Americans interpret stolen's

24:55

actions as primarily defensive and

24:57

as paranoia about the capitalists power is

25:00

justifiable given their history of hostility

25:02

toward the USSR since its founding.

25:05

They argue that Truman's abrupt post war

25:07

ending of lend-lease age shipments to

25:09

the USSR after the war sent

25:11

an unfriendly message and they spotlight

25:13

the less humanitarian motives of the

25:16

capitalist powers such as pursuing

25:18

their economic self interest and gaining access

25:20

to markets. They alleged the u s

25:22

engaged in its own expansionism by

25:25

promoting global capitalism after the war.

25:27

They also emphasize the Soviets reasonable

25:29

fear of Western invasions via Poland,

25:32

which had happened to Russia twice within the past

25:34

40 years. They're staggering losses

25:36

during world war two which left the USSR

25:38

more in position to rebuild internally than

25:40

to expand externally. There are disproportionate

25:43

contribution to defeating the Nazi

25:45

war machine, their alleged right

25:47

to a pro Soviet buffer zone. Given

25:49

that the USA had its own sphere of influence

25:52

in the western hemisphere and their

25:54

fear of the u s nuclear monopoly.

25:56

Ultimately it seems unlikely.

25:58

These two powerful countries with mutually

26:01

opposing systems could have

26:03

completely avoided some tensions.

26:06

Patterson observes in his book, grand expectations,

26:09

quote dissimilar ideologically

26:11

and politically. The two nations

26:13

had been especially cold to each other since

26:16

the Bolshevik revolution in 1917

26:19

and they had different geopolitical concerns

26:21

in 1945 conflict

26:23

between the two sides. A

26:25

Cold War was therefore unavoidable close

26:27

quote. Now I'm skeptical

26:30

that anything in history is truly

26:32

inevitable, but disputes

26:34

with the USSR seem difficult

26:37

to avoid. By 1947

26:40

perhaps if the Americans had reacted

26:42

to Soviet actions in a more passive

26:45

and less adversarial way, the

26:47

Cold War might have been less Chile . The world

26:50

might have avoided the dangerous nuclear tensions

26:52

and bloody proxy wars that were to

26:54

follow then again, it may have

26:56

been worse for the world if us failure

26:58

to stand up to Stalin resulted in

27:00

his imposition of authoritarian

27:02

rule on more countries and peoples

27:05

. It's hard to know one thing is for certain.

27:08

During 1947 the

27:10

Cold War became entrenched and there was no

27:12

going back to friendly relations

27:14

between the two great powers. Truman

27:17

had grown impatient with Soviet behavior.

27:20

Many of his advisors later nicknamed

27:22

the wise men . Most of them from elite

27:24

Anglo Saxon Protestant backgrounds

27:27

believed Americans had to stand up to

27:29

the communists. Among them was diplomat,

27:31

George Kennan, whose theory of containment

27:33

became predominant. It argued that

27:35

the u s should avoid war with the USSR,

27:38

but it should also ensure containment of communism

27:41

within the nations where it already held

27:43

power preventing its expansion

27:45

to other nations. Americans

27:47

feared that leftist parties in the free

27:49

part of Europe would bring their countries closer

27:51

to Moscow. There were pro communist

27:54

parties with mass support in postwar

27:56

France and Italy, for example, Marxist

27:58

ideology encouraged socialist revolutions,

28:01

which could topple anticommunist

28:03

governments and replace them with pro Soviet

28:06

regimes, thereby expanding the influence

28:08

of the communists block. US officials

28:11

felt they had to prevent this expansion

28:13

in order to protect both our national self

28:15

interest and our democratic values.

28:18

After all, most communist governments at this

28:20

time or authoritarian with little

28:22

regard for individual rights, the

28:24

u s allied with fellow anticommunist

28:26

powers such as Great Britain, the

28:29

British Empire had been the most formidable military

28:31

player on the world stage before the

28:33

two world wars. However,

28:36

that all had changed by 1947

28:38

when the British allowed India and Pakistan

28:41

to become independent and began

28:43

a long process of decolonization

28:45

that would take decades to complete. The

28:48

UK was deeply in debt from World War Two

28:50

. There was a massive pro independence

28:53

movement in India that was making British

28:55

rule difficult and expensive to

28:57

maintain there. And the recently

28:59

elected UK Labor Party government

29:02

was more ideologically committed to investing

29:04

in domestic social programs than

29:06

it was to preserving British imperial

29:08

power. Many u s officials

29:10

regarded eventual de-colonization as

29:13

inevitable, but they were alarmed by a British

29:15

decision to stop financing military

29:17

and political forces that were fighting

29:20

communists in Turkey and Greece.

29:22

The Wiseman came to believe it was America's

29:25

turned to replace Britain as a protector

29:27

of the so-called civilized world from

29:29

communism. After all, the

29:32

Post War USA was the world's greatest military and economic

29:34

power as historian George

29:37

C. Herring put it in his book from colony to

29:39

superpower quote, it's

29:41

navy exceeded the combined fleets

29:43

of all other nations. It's air

29:46

force commanded the skies . It

29:48

alone possessed atomic weapons.

29:50

Closed quote, while New York and Washington

29:53

were supplanting London as respective

29:55

capitols of global finance and diplomacy,

29:58

the wise men convinced Truman that

30:00

intervention in the Mediterranean

30:03

was urgently needed to prevent further

30:05

communist territorial gains,

30:08

but many Republicans had recently been

30:10

elected to Congress on a platform of budget

30:12

cuts and the American public

30:14

was now focused on domestic issues.

30:17

Republican isolationists were naturally

30:19

skeptical of Truman's proposal to

30:21

bankroll a foreign fight against

30:23

communism. Republican Senator

30:26

Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan and

30:28

important swing vote said that Truman

30:30

must quote unquote scare the hell

30:33

out of the American people if politicians

30:35

like him or to avoid a political

30:37

backlash from voting for the plan

30:40

. Truman did just that

30:42

in a dramatic speech to Congress in

30:44

March, 1947 announcing

30:47

a policy that became known as the Truman

30:49

doctrine. He argued that the world was

30:51

being divided between free and

30:53

totalitarian states and

30:55

the u s had a moral duty and

30:57

a defense of imperative to keep

30:59

totalitarianism in check . He

31:01

declared quote, I believe

31:03

that it must be the policy of the United

31:06

States to support free peoples who

31:08

are resisting attempted subjugation

31:11

by armed minorities or by outside

31:13

pressures. Close quote, he

31:15

warned that failure to act quote may

31:18

endanger the peace of the world and

31:20

endanger the welfare of our own nation.

31:23

Congress responded to this dramatic

31:25

rhetoric by approving his requested

31:27

$400 million to assist

31:29

anticommunist forces in

31:32

Greece and Turkey. In essence,

31:34

this was a bipartisan endorsement of

31:37

the containment theory. Truman succeeded

31:39

in convincing American politicians and

31:42

the public to feel threatened by

31:44

the commies. Indeed, this

31:46

fear soon became a national

31:48

preoccupation committing

31:50

to a global effort to contain communism.

31:53

Congress followed up the Truman doctrine

31:55

by passing the

31:58

National Security Act of 1947 this

32:00

bill consolidated the navy and war departments

32:02

into a department of defense and

32:04

it added the air force as a third branch

32:06

of service. It also created

32:10

the National Security Council and SC and founded the

32:14

Central Intelligence Agency, CIA for intelligence

32:16

gathering abroad, including activities

32:18

technically known as spying. Part

32:21

of its purpose was to check the power of the

32:23

Soviets KGB. Then called

32:25

the MGB, which had its own

32:27

intelligence agents around the world.

32:30

The Truman administration also initiated

32:32

a federal employee loyalty program

32:34

to route suspected communists out

32:36

of the federal government. The subsequent red

32:39

and the investigation of alleged Soviet

32:42

agents will be discussed in more detail

32:44

in future episodes. The new American

32:46

role as a global military power

32:49

lacked national historical precedent.

32:52

The USA had traditional, you'll lack to significant

32:54

standing army as permanent standing

32:57

armies had been viewed by many founding

32:59

fathers as a potential tool

33:01

of government oppression. The United

33:04

States had stumbled and scrambled to mobilize

33:06

an effective military after the outbreak

33:09

of war in both 1812

33:11

and 1917 even

33:13

prior to World War II. According to

33:15

historian James T. Patterson, quote,

33:18

as late as 1938, Romania

33:21

had supported a larger army than

33:23

did the U s closed quote. It

33:26

took the cold war to ensure that

33:28

the massive military machine, the

33:30

Americans gradually built up during

33:32

World War II would remain to a

33:34

substantial degree intact. Uh

33:37

, U s military presence outside

33:39

its borders wasn't a new phenomenon,

33:41

particularly in the

33:43

Western Hemisphere, but the u s now under took a more global

33:46

involvement in the internal disputes

33:48

of foreign countries. It deployed

33:50

worldwide military forces worthy

33:52

of a great empire like those long

33:54

held by Britain and France and

33:56

characterizing the u s is becoming more like

33:59

an empire. I do not intend that

34:01

as a judgmental term. My use of the

34:03

word is simply to describe the unprecedented

34:05

extent of its military power and

34:08

its attempts to wield influence around

34:10

the world. Under this definition,

34:12

the Soviet Union at this time certainly

34:14

also qualified as an empire,

34:17

although both the u us and USSR were

34:19

usually described by the more modern sounding

34:21

term superpower. How did

34:23

this growth in power affect how other nations

34:26

viewed the u s the imperial

34:28

footprint of the United States wasn't necessarily

34:30

seen as a boot on the neck of

34:32

a protesting population. Indeed,

34:35

our military presence in West Germany

34:38

was eventually welcomed by many western

34:40

Europeans who were concerned

34:42

about deterring the massive numbers of Soviet

34:44

tanks behind the iron curtain

34:46

for making a move against them. Likewise.

34:49

Eventually many South Koreans would

34:51

find reassurance and the American military

34:53

shield against a potential second

34:56

invasion from the north. This foreign

34:58

acceptance of us protection against

35:01

communist threads has been described as

35:03

quote unquote empire by invitation

35:06

by Norwegian historian year Luna

35:08

Stad. He wrote quote, while

35:11

all empires have elements of both imposition

35:13

and invitation, the invitationals

35:16

side was clearly much stronger with

35:18

the American than with the British

35:20

and Soviet empires . Close quote,

35:22

but maintenance of any kind of empire, even

35:25

an arguably benevolent one involves

35:27

major expenses and dangers. The

35:29

risk of Hubris, blowback and overreach

35:32

is greater for an empire than for

35:34

a more modest republic. U

35:36

S would come to be resented in many

35:39

parts of the world during the Cold War. While

35:41

few found cause to complain about,

35:43

say, Global Canadian or Swedish

35:45

influence in its anticommunist

35:48

crusade, the u s would at times

35:50

violate the ideals of the

35:53

Atlantic Charter and the

35:56

Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Although the American's anti-soviet

35:58

position emerged based in part

36:01

upon our aspirational values

36:03

of self determination and human rights

36:05

for all peoples and our objection

36:07

to Soviet violation of those ideals.

36:10

The U s government would be tempted to sacrifice

36:13

those values and its attempts

36:15

to win his fight against communism.

36:18

For example, one country seeking US

36:20

support for the principle of national

36:22

self-determination was a small

36:25

tropical nation that did suffered

36:27

many decades of exploitation by

36:29

multiple imperial powers. A

36:31

charismatic pro independence leader

36:33

in that country had read the

36:36

Atlantic Charter and thought the Americans might truly support

36:38

decolonization. He gave

36:40

a speech to a crowd and one of that

36:43

nation's major cities in 1945

36:46

announcing quote, we hold the truth

36:48

that all men are created equal, that

36:50

they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable

36:53

rights among them, life, liberty

36:55

and the pursuit of happiness. Yes,

36:58

this language was borrowed from our declaration

37:00

of independence in an attempt to specifically

37:03

appeal to the United States. The

37:05

leader also sent multiple telegrams

37:07

seeking help from President Truman, which

37:10

went unanswered. The identity

37:12

of this leader, [inaudible] men

37:15

and his country was Vietnam.

37:17

His efforts to win us favor failed

37:20

and the Americans instead supported

37:22

the restoration of the French as colonial

37:25

rulers of Indochina, the region

37:27

containing Vietnam. France

37:29

was now an important ally against the Soviets

37:32

and the U s would not risk alienating

37:34

the French by undermining their colonial

37:36

possessions. US officials

37:38

were skeptical of the Vietnamese independence

37:41

movement, mostly due to the fact

37:43

that many of its leaders, including Ho men

37:45

, had pro communist beliefs

37:48

during the war. Franklin

37:50

Roosevelt had generally favored phasing out the colonial

37:53

holdings of allies and granting

37:55

self determination to those nations,

37:57

but he was inconsistent in that view

38:00

and very open to pragmatic compromises.

38:03

According to journalists, Stanley

38:05

Karnow, author of Vietnam a history

38:07

FDR once proposed a quote unquote

38:10

international trusteeship for

38:12

postwar Indochina in preparation

38:14

for its eventual independence and

38:16

he criticized French colonial exploitation

38:19

of the region. However, Indochina

38:21

was quite low on his list of global postwar

38:24

priorities. It seemed obvious

38:26

that an underdeveloped backwater like Vietnam

38:29

would never be a central concern of US

38:31

foreign policy. Cornell

38:33

writes that in May,

38:35

1945 after FTRs death, US officials

38:38

tacitly recognized France

38:40

as claim to Indochina close quote.

38:43

By the early 1950s the u

38:45

s would be funding the French military effort

38:47

against Hoshi Mans guerrilla forces

38:50

who combined Vietnamese nationalism with

38:52

communism. Unless you were living

38:54

under a rock during your u s history

38:56

class. To coin an awful mixed metaphor,

38:59

you know that US handling of Vietnam

39:01

eventually became a major foreign

39:03

policy train wreck. That of course

39:06

is a story for a future episode. I

39:08

will end our tale of 1947

39:11

on a more positive note for the Americans

39:13

with two u s international relations

39:15

success stories, the establishment

39:18

of democratic self government in Japan

39:21

and the reconstruction of Western

39:23

Europe by means of the Marshall Plan. The

39:25

United States helped facilitate the

39:27

transformation of the formerly militaristic

39:30

and hierarchical Japanese empire

39:33

into a progressive and democratic

39:35

nation with a growing market economy.

39:38

The U S had occupied Japan since

39:40

1945 following the empire

39:42

surrender, the nation was in a dismal

39:45

state after World War II in

39:47

part due to the damage inflicted by US

39:49

air power, including the nuclear

39:51

bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

39:54

and the firebombing of Tokyo. Early

39:57

on, the American occupation forces

39:59

were enabled to prevent food shortages

40:01

leading to widespread hunger and suffering.

40:04

The country urgently needed economic

40:07

and political stabilization civilian

40:10

efforts. Working for the u s occupation

40:12

forces drafted a democratic

40:14

constitution and submitted

40:16

it to Japan's parliament for potential

40:19

revisions. It was ratified

40:21

with a few changes in 1946

40:23

and it took effect in 1947

40:26

it included an article forever renouncing

40:28

warfare as an instrument of government

40:31

policy. It also included

40:33

provisions protecting women's rights

40:35

and workers rights to organize a

40:38

major change from the conservative imperial

40:40

status quo. These elements

40:42

reflected the civic idealism of its

40:44

framers and the fact that in

40:46

1946 anti-communism

40:49

had not yet become the main focus

40:51

of us foreign policy. The

40:54

U s didn't want the constitution to be too

40:56

disruptive to Japanese society.

40:58

However, it retained the emperor

41:00

as a figurehead presiding over a democratic

41:03

system because the Americans believed

41:05

that the Japanese people would not accept

41:08

a constitution that eliminated

41:10

the imperial tradition. Historian

41:13

John W dour called the process of Japanese

41:15

reconciliation to the new constitutional

41:18

order as embracing defeat

41:20

in his book of the same name. The

41:23

Japanese would energetically adjust to

41:25

the new system. And within three decades,

41:27

Japan went from a nation in literal

41:29

ruins to a prosperous market

41:31

democracy. This u s nation

41:33

building effort turned out far better

41:36

than subsequent American attempts in

41:39

Southeast Asia and the Middle East. The Japanese

41:41

exhausted by war and decimated

41:44

by bombing did not offer much

41:46

resistance to u s restructuring.

41:48

Some American intervention in Japanese

41:50

affairs seemed legitimate given

41:52

that Japan had attacked the United

41:55

States among other countries and then lost

41:57

the war like the Germans.

41:59

The Japanese were forced to engage in

42:01

a national moral reconsideration of

42:03

their history, questioning what

42:05

had led them to aggressive militarism.

42:08

Another reason the reconstruction of Japan

42:10

succeeded was its relative modernity

42:13

compared with nations. The U s later attempted

42:15

to shape the Japanese had

42:17

the technology expertise and institutions

42:20

necessary to transform into

42:23

a wealthy developed nation. Another

42:25

us success was the massive European

42:27

aid package advocated by Truman's

42:30

secretary of State, George

42:32

C. Marshall, a former general who had been one of America's

42:35

most important military strategists

42:37

during World War II. In June,

42:40

1947 Marshall announced to proposal to

42:42

reconstruct Europe by giving $13

42:45

billion of assistance to various European nations.

42:48

The Marshall Plan, which Congress approved

42:50

in 1948 help to stabilize

42:53

and revitalize the European economy.

42:56

The plan was based on political strategy,

42:58

not just altruism, the u s

43:00

hope to undermine the appeal of communist parties

43:03

within democratic systems. The

43:05

U s also offered aid to the Soviets, but

43:08

Gaddis states that the u s did so knowing

43:11

and hoping that the Soviet quote

43:13

would not itself accept such aid

43:15

or allow at satellites to thereby

43:18

straining its relationship with them and

43:20

that the u s could then sees both the

43:22

geopolitical and moral initiative

43:24

in the emerging cold war close

43:27

quote, stolen predictably prohibited

43:29

Eastern Europe from receiving any of this

43:31

u s assistance. Previous

43:34

us relief had gone mostly toward food

43:36

and medicine to help Europeans survive

43:39

mass shortage. Historian George

43:41

Herring writes that in 1947 quote,

43:44

Europeans lack the dollars to purchase

43:46

urgently needed American goods. Closed

43:48

. Quote, the new aid sought

43:50

to restore Europe status as a key

43:52

U s trading partner. There was

43:54

a catch, however, the u s set

43:57

from guidelines for Marshall Plan recipients

43:59

to follow communists had

44:01

to be excluded from recipient governments

44:03

in western Europe. In 1946

44:06

in France, over a quarter of the population

44:09

had voted for the communists who had

44:11

played an important role in the underground

44:13

resistance to the Nazis there. And

44:15

the governing coalition in France included

44:18

several communists ministers in

44:20

charge of important agencies. The

44:23

U s pressure the French into removing

44:25

these ministers from their government. In 1947

44:28

the u s also pushed for recipients to

44:30

balance their and to open

44:32

up their economies to freer trade

44:34

with the United States. Domestically,

44:37

the expensive plan seemed a tough sell

44:39

to Congress, but attaching war

44:41

hero Marshall's name to it gave it more

44:43

credibility. A massive lobbying

44:46

effort occurred, including not just

44:48

typical liberal internationalists do

44:50

gooders, but also hardheaded

44:52

conservative business leaders and military

44:55

men who insisted the deal was

44:57

in the longterm economic and security

44:59

interest of the USA. Congress

45:02

passed the plan and the aid soon improved

45:04

conditions across western Europe.

45:07

Professor herring called the Marshall Plan, quote

45:10

one of the United States most successful

45:12

20th century initiatives. Not

45:15

all Europeans agreed, some

45:17

fretted about the fact that the plan allowed

45:19

reindustrialization of West Germany

45:22

because they still feared and mistrusted

45:24

the Germans. Some French commentators

45:26

complained about the flood of mass produced

45:29

American products such as Coca-Cola,

45:32

that freer trade brought into their country.

45:34

They complain these cheap consumer goods

45:37

and mass advertising. We're diluting

45:39

traditional French culture, a

45:42

process they called Coco colonization.

45:45

Seriously. Nevertheless,

45:47

most western Europeans were grateful

45:49

to the u s for helping to bring it

45:51

in to the scarcity and austerity

45:53

they had suffered during and immediately after

45:56

the war. The rise

45:58

of the Cold War between the USA and

46:00

the USSR shook up the u s

46:02

political status quo and it would have

46:04

a major impact on the baby boomers.

46:07

It troubled conservatives by causing the u

46:09

s to abandoned isolationism and

46:12

join international institutions. So they viewed

46:14

as a threat to independent American sovereignty.

46:17

It also led to massive federal spending

46:19

on military and security agencies.

46:22

Expenses often more acceptable to

46:24

the right then social welfare benefits,

46:27

but which still meant the large central

46:29

government created during the new deal era

46:31

was here to stay. For the left.

46:33

It meant fears about a potential return to war

46:36

and concerns about an over glorification

46:39

of private enterprise. The

46:41

Cold War also scaled back the reformist

46:43

idealism of the 1930s

46:46

because liberal ideas could be painted

46:48

as pink or quasi communistic.

46:50

Some labor unions and civil rights

46:52

groups would indeed be accused

46:54

of being red during the years that followed.

46:57

So anti-communism became an

46:59

obstacle for movement seeking

47:01

social change. A new cold

47:03

war, political consensus emerged to

47:05

adapt to these new realities. Embracing

47:07

a big democratic u s government

47:10

meant to defend individual freedom and

47:12

private property from an undemocratic

47:15

centralized Soviet government that violated individual

47:17

freedoms and opposed property rights.

47:20

This new synthesis would become apparent

47:23

during the fascinating presidential election

47:25

year of 1948

47:27

or [inaudible]

47:41

from boomers to millennials is produced

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