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The "Iron Curtain" Speech
On this day Winston Churchill gave his famous speech warning people about the threat of the Soviet Union. In World War II Britain and the Soviet Union were allies, but after Stalin had began to conquer Eastern Europe, Churchill called him out on it in this speech that raised awareness of the situation going on in Eastern Europe. Churchill described it as an iron curtain because no one was allowed in or out of the countries that had been taken, leading to an isolated area of the world. -
The Truman Doctrine
When the United Kingdom warned the United States that they didn't have the money to support Greece in their fight against a communist revolution, Truman went to Congress to propose the Truman Doctrine. He knew that if Greece turned to communism the Soviet Union would dominate the Mediterranean, so he proposed giving financial aid to Greede and Turkey to help them fight against an opposing communist threat. Congress approved of the doctrine and granted large sums of money to the two countries. -
Taft-Hartley Act
After the war, labor unions became more adamant about gaining higher wages and better working conditions, oftentimes going on strike. This was incredibly similar to the communist uprisings that were happening around the globe, causing the probusiness Republicans to retaliate in fear of turning to communism. They passed the Taft-Hartley Act, bypassing Truman's veto, to restrict organized labor unions to make it more difficult for unions to develop and organize to protest and go on strike. -
Marshall Plan
A Harvard student named George C. Marshall delivered a speech detailing the Marshall Plan that would help to aid the damaged European countries in rebuilding and strengthening so that they could defend themselves from a communist threat. It vastly improved many countries with their economies as well as their cities, allowing them to be able to further withstand any invasion. Congress supported this after Stalin performed a coup to seize Czechoslovakia under Soviet reign. -
Barricaded from Berlin
After the fall of Germany, it was split into West Germany which was aided in rebuilding by the United States, and East Germany, which had become communist from Soviet Union control. However, Berlin was also divided despite being in East Germany, so that West Germans could still have their important city. In an attempt to conquer Berlin, Stalin barricaded the rails used to transport goods to Berlin, leaving it stranded. Stalin had hoped to starve it into submission, but Truman had other plans. -
Operation Vittles
To combat the barricading of the rails into West Berlin, the United States began flying supplies over East Germany to West Berlin to supply them with food, fuel, and consumer goods. They were going by the Soviet Union's rule of not stepping a foot into East Germany, instead they flew over it every day for a year until Stalin withdrew the barricades. Truman also made the threat that if Stalin brought down any of Truman's aircraft, he would send nukes to the Soviet Union. -
The Creation of NATO
After the Soviet Union had begun stretching its way through Eastern Europe, conquering it nation by nation, it became clear that the remaining countries needed to ally with each other against the threat. Joined by Canada and the United States, Western Europe formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which stopped Stalin from reaching further into Europe. He was fearful against waging war on the United States, and since NATO meant that any country under it started that war, he steered clear. -
The Establishment of the People's Republic of China
Since the 1930s, China had been undergoing a revolution led by Mao Zedong, however, after a brief interruption of Japanese occupation, the civil war began again in 1945 with more steam. Mao Zedong and his supporters were communist, and since they neighbored the Soviet Union they received support from them until they won and reformed China into a communist nation. China had the largest population in the world, so seeing it fall worried many Americans about a possible internal communist threat. -
North Korean Sneak Attack
After Japan was defeated in World War II, the Soviet Union and the United States divided Korea into a North Korea and a South Korea, which would soon become even more divided as North Korea would easily fall to communism. Both Koreas wanted a united regime under their rule, but could not get the backing of their sponsoring country until eventually North Korea gained the support it needed from Stalin to launch a devastating sneak attack into South Korea, starting the Korean War. -
Armistice Ending the Korean War
The Korean War had become a long and strenuous trench warfare similarly to World War I, leading the war to go on for years without much change. The battling had stabilized close to the original border between the two countries, so newly elected President Eisenhower negotiated an armistice with China and the Koreas to set terms going forward. Korea remained two separate nations that had an incredibly guarded border, however, tensions remained strong long after the armistice was put into effect. -
The McCarthy Hearings
McCarthy began using fear to gain political power and to throw the United States into a state of disarray during the Red Scare. Upon mentioning that he had a list of communists working and shaping the government, people became worried about an inside communist threat, so they began accusing other people of being communist, causing many trials. McCarthy fueled the flames, but he eventually overstepped as he investigated the military, leading him to lose most of his political power. -
Splitting of Vietnam
As Vietnam fell to communism, Eisenhower devised a plan to retake Vietnam to stop communism from spreading farther. He figured that if one nation is taken over, its neighbors are soon to follow. The United States split Vietnam into a Northern and Southern nation, the North being communist, while the South was anti-communist. However, the South was only anti-communist due to unfair, undemocratic US tampering of the elections. This splitting eventually led Kennedy to send troops into Vietnam. -
The Development of the ICBM
To enhance the destructive power of nuclear bombs, the Soviet Union developed intercontinental ballistic missiles, which could fire a nuke to anywhere within a significantly large radius. The United States was not too far behind in developing ICBMs, but the people became fearful that the Soviet Union had beaten them to creating this weapon. It made nuclear war far more likely and far more dangerous, because nukes could be launched from almost anywhere. -
Bay of Pigs
After a communist revolution in Cuba, and authoritarian leader named Fidel Castro took control of Cuba and gained support from the Soviet Union, as part of its communist expansion. Many Cubans ran to the United States to be free from the reign of Castro. Eisenhower planned an invasion of Cuba involving the exiled Cubans being the main force that would receive US naval and aerial support. When Kennedy enacted the invasion he took out the support, leaving the exiled Cubans to be massacred. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
After Cuba had become communist and had fallen into the hands of the Soviet Union, tensions were high, especially after the discovery that the Soviet Union was delivering ICBMs to Cuba, an advantageous position because it could hit almost anywhere in the United States from mainland Cuba. This sent the entire country into disarray as the threat of a Nuclear War was approaching, however, Kennedy ordered a blockade to keep the Soviet ships out, and eventually the Soviets backed off.