Cold War Essay

HIST 2773 Cold War DBQ

Using information from all of the documents and your knowledge of United States history, write an essay in which you discuss the causes of the Cold War and its impact upon foreign and domestic policy of the United States.

1. President Truman's address to Congress, March 12, 1947

“Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Congress of the United States:

The United States has received from the Greek government an urgent appeal for financial

and economic assistance. The very existence of the Greek state is today threatened by the

terrorist activities of several thousand armed men, led by communists, who defy the

government's authority at a number of points. Greece is in desperate need of financial

and economic assistance to enable it to resume purchases of food, clothing, fuel and

seeds. It must have assistance if it is to become a self-supporting and self-respecting

democracy. Greece's neighbor, Turkey, also deserves our attention. Since the war Turkey

has sought financial assistance for the purpose of effecting that modernization necessary

for the maintenance of its national integrity. I believe that it must be the policy of the

United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed

minorities or by outside pressures. If Greece should fall under the control of an armed

minority, the effect upon its neighbor, Turkey, would be immediate and serious.

Confusion and disorder might well spread throughout the entire Middle East. I therefore

ask the Congress to provide authority for assistance to Greece and Turkey in the amount

of $400 million and to authorize the detail of American civilian and military personnel to

Greece and Turkey.”

1. John F. Kennedy Address to the Nation, July 25, 1961

“The immediate threat to free men is in West Berlin. But that isolated outpost is not an

isolated problem. The threat is worldwide. Our effort must be equally wide and strong

and not be obsessed by any single manufactured crisis. We face a challenge in Berlin, but

there is also a challenge in Southeast Asia, where the borders are less guarded, the enemy

harder to find, and the dangers of communism less apparent to those who have so little.

We face a challenge in our own hemisphere, and indeed wherever else the freedom of

human beings is at stake. Thus, our presence in West Berlin and our access thereto, cannot be ended by any act of the Soviet government. The NATO shield was long ago extended to cover West Berlin --and we have given our word that an attack upon that city will be regarded as an attack upon us all.”

1. Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech – Westminster College

– Fulton, Missouri – 1946

“To give security to these countless homes, they must be shielded from the two giant marauders, war and tyranny. We all know the frightful disturbances in which the ordinary family is plunged when the cruse of war swoops down upon the breadwinner and those for whom he works and contrives. The awful ruin of Europe, with all its vanished glories, and of large parts of Asia glares us in the eyes. When the designs of wicked men or the aggressive urge of mighty states dissolve over large areas the frame of civilized society, humble folk are confronted with difficulties with which they cannot cope. For them all is distorted, all is broken, even ground to pulp.”

1. Secretary of State George C. Marshall Speech at Harvard, 1947

"Poverty and unemployment would reinforce communism's appeal, he said, while recovery would create stability and thriving democratic institutions. Fearing U.S. dominance, the Soviets rejected Marshall Plan aid. They were soon followed by Eastern European countries under their influence." "Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos."

1. Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Vyshinsky speech to the U.N. General Assembly September 1947

“[The Marshall Plan] attempts to impose its will on other independent states, while at the same

time obviously using the economic resources distributed as relief to individual needy

nations as an instrument of political pressure. This policy conflicts sharply with the principle expressed by the General Assembly in its resolution of 11 December 1946, which declares that relief supplies to other countries "should ... at no time be used as a political weapon. The implementation of the Marshall Plan will mean placing European countries under the

economic and political control of the United States…[and] to confront the European countries in need of relief with the necessity of renouncing their inalienable right [...] to plan their national economy in their own way. Moreover, this plan is an attempt to split Europe into two camps and, with the help of the United Kingdom and France, to complete the formation of a bloc of several European countries hostile to the interests of the democratic countries of Eastern Europe and most particularly to the interests of the Soviet Union.”

1. North Atlantic Treaty; April 4, 1949

"The Parties will contribute toward the further development of peaceful and friendly

international relations by strengthening their free institutions, by bringing about a better

understanding of the principles upon which these institutions are founded, and by

promoting conditions of stability and well-being. In order more effectively to achieve the objectives of this Treaty, the Parties, separately and jointly, by means of continuous and effective self-help and mutual aid, will maintain and develop their individual and collective capacity to resist armed attack. The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all ... and will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually, and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and

maintain the security of the North Atlantic area."

1. General Douglas MacArthur Writings

August 1950

"The prestige of the Western world hangs in the balance. Oriental millions are watching

the outcome. It is plainly apparent that here in Asia is where the Communist conspirators

have elected to make their play for global conquest. The test is not in Berlin or Vienna, in

London, Paris or Washington. It is here and now