The Cold War: The Balance of Terror
Introduction
Copyright © 2005-6, Henry J. Sage

General Overview: Now that the Cold War is over, it is relatively easy to view it objectively—to ask whether the United States played its cards correctly, to question whether we might have been able to lower tensions sooner and more sharply. Since the U.S. and its allies “won” the Cold War (and one can properly ask whether it is really over, or perhaps better, whether tensions at that level might indeed arise again) it is easy to say, well, of course we played it right—after all, we did win, didn’t we? A more critical view might suggest that while Americans have indeed seen the fall of the Soviet Union and much of the apparatus of Communism, the U.S. might during those tension-filled years have pushed its luck so far that the only reason we did not get into a nuclear war was plain good fortune.

The Balance of Terror. In the aftermath of attacks on New York City and Washington on September 11, 2001, Americans certainly understand the fear that comes from threats of violence. Yet during the height of the Cold War in the 1950s and 1960s, the fear of nuclear war went beyond the fear of attacks on isolated cities or installations. For a time, the possibility of total nuclear war could not be ruled out, and questions were raised not only about the level of destruction that might result from a nuclear exchange, but also about what life might be like after a nuclear war. A dark joke went like this: “I don't know what they'll be using in World War Three, but in World War Four, they'll be using spears.” In fact, movies like “On the Beach,” based on the novel by Nevil Shute, raised the possibility of the extinction of all human life on Earth, and few saw that scenario as a far-fetched fantasy. The height of the terror came in October, 1962, when the Soviet Union began placing offense of nuclear weapons on the island of Cuba. There can be little doubt that the resulting “Cuban missile crisis” took the world to the brink; fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and disaster was averted. But nobody cheered when it was over—the shocking impact of what was possible had been too deep, and relief was a long time coming.

The Origins. The Cold War has no definite starting point—the struggle between Communist and non-Communist systems goes back to the Russian Revolution and even beyond. But the seeds of discord between the Soviet Union and the West were first sown in a tangible way, ironically, even as the need for in winning World War II were bearing fruit. At the great wartime conferences among Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin—with some participation by Chiang Kai-Shek and DeGaulle—as the defeat of Germany (and Japan) grew closer, the tensions among those leaders became sharper. More than once, for example, Roosevelt became virtually a referee in the midst of the squabbles between Churchill and Stalin. From Casablanca to Tehran, Cairo and Yalta, the leaders tried to stake a claim for what they perceived as their national interests—and world interests—in the postwar era.

President Truman’s Containment Policy. Harry Truman was ill-prepared to assume the duties of President upon FDR’s death in April, 1945, and the blame for that must be laid at Roosevelt’s feet. He did next to nothing to inform his hand-picked Vice President about the essential of his war policies, nit even the atomic bomb research. Truman assumed the office while about 13 million Americans were still fighting in Europe and Asia and postwar problems were already beginning to emerge. President Truman’s Cold War policy became one of "containment" of the Soviets, which meant not challenging the Communists where they were already established, but doing everything possible to see to it that their sphere did not enlarge itself at the expense of "free" nations.

See Harry S. Truman, Containment Speech, 1947. See also David McCullough’s "Truman" and the fine HBO film of the same name with Gary Sinese. Truman wrote his own Memoirs as well.

The Marshall Plan, the Berlin Airlift and NATO were related but separate mechanisms by which the Truman administration challenged the Soviets in Europe. The Marshall Plan was a plan designed assist European nations in their economic recovery from the ruins of World War II. Viewed by many as an act of great generosity, it provided millions of dollars in economic aid to Europe in exchange for political cooperation. In 1948 when the Soviets sealed off Berlin to ground access, Truman called for a massive airlift to provide Berliners with everything they needed to keep functioning economically and politically. After a year of round-the-clock flights, the Soviets backed off and reopened access routes to Berlin, an outcome seen as a major Cold War victory for the U.S. In 1949 the United States led in the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, America’s first permanent "foreign policy entanglement." NATO was a military alliance that included the United States, Canada, and most of the nations of Western Europe. Soon after the Senate approved the treaty American soldiers were sent to Europe to beef up the remaining occupying forces in Germany.

McCarthyism: Anti-Communism at Home

The Korean War, Truman and MacArthur. General Douglas MacArthur is one of America’s most colorful characters. Son of a career army officer, he served over 50 years in the Army and fought in three wars. In 1935 he retired as Chief of Staff of the Army and went to the Philippines, where he took over command of all American and Philippine military forces during World War II. Driven from the islands by the Japanese, he led U.S. forces back through Indonesia and retook the Philippines late in the war. Following the reduction of Okinawa he and the Navy and Marine forces under Admiral Nimitz began planning the invasion of Japan. Before that could occur, the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought about the Japanese surrender. As the senior representative of the Allied Powers, MacArthur made a memorable speech about the horrors of war as he accepted the formal Japanese capitulation aboard the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay in September, 1945. He stayed on as the senior allied occupation officer, and became virtually the acting emperor of Japan. He was a strong force in converting Japan into a modern, democratic state, and was even involved with the writing of the Japanese Constitution. Most Japanese admired MacArthur and were gratified by his moderate, even-handed treatment of the Japanese people during the postwar years. He was truly a benevolent dictator. (When I asked one of my students who was raised in Japan what her countrymen and women thought of MacArthur, she answered “They thought he was a god.”)

When the North Korean Army smashed across the 38^th parallel in June, 1950, MacArthur was named commander of all United Nations forces called out to repel the invasion. In a brilliant and daring stroke, MacArthur captured the port city of Inchon in September, crushing the North Korean advance. Within weeks the North Korean army had stumbled back into their own territory, and one can justly say that the Korean War was won decisively at that point. MacArthur, however, pursued the North Koreans back almost to the Chinese border, confident that they would not intervene. He was wrong. About a quarter of a million Chinese soldiers swept across the border in November, 1950, and pushed the U.N forces back into the South. Disillusioned by Truman’s war policies, MacArthur grew increasingly insubordinate and was fired by President Truman. He returned to a hero’s welcome and retired. Under the command of general Matthew Ridgeway, the U.N. Forces regained the initiative, but the war eventually ended in a cease fire. South Korea remained free, but tension along the border continued for years. The Korean War resulted in over 40,000 American combat related deaths.

See MacArthur’s Farewell Address to Congress and his "Duty, Honor, Country" Speech at West Point. See also "An American Caesar," by William Manchester, one of several biographies. MacArthur also wrote his own Memoirs.

Dwight D. Eisenhower: The Eisenhower-Dulles Foreign Policy. While still a candidate for President, General Eisenhower promised to go to Korea. An armistice was reached in the summer of 1953. If anything, however, the Eisenhower-Dulles policy toward Communism was even more strident that Truman’s. Threatening "massive retaliation" if the Soviets became aggressors, John Foster Dulles, Eisenhower’s Secretary of State, escalated the rhetoric of the Cold War to new levels while President Eisenhower worked more quietly behind the scenes to reduce tensions. Tempted to intervene in several international crises, Eisenhower followed a moderate course, refusing to assist the Hungarians who revolted against their Soviet overlords in 1956. He also refused to support Great Britain and France in the Suez crisis of 1956, not wanting to worsen relations with the Soviet Union.

In 1954 the U.S. observed the Geneva talks that ended French influence in Indochina, but Eisenhower insisted nevertheless that if South Vietnam or any other Asian nation succumbed to Communism, her neighbors would fall like dominos. Following the French withdrawal from Southeast Asia, the U.S. supported the "free" government of South Vietnam with money, equipment and advisors, but at a modest level.

As a soldier who had seen more than enough of war, President Eisenhower sought various means for reducing international tensions that might lead to war. He met with Soviet leaders to try to work out disagreements of various kinds. In the late 1950s Soviet Premier Khrushchev toured the United States, and a "summit" meeting was scheduled for May, 1960, in Paris. A few days before the scheduled meeting, the Soviets shot down and American U-2 spy plane piloted by Air Force Major Francis Gary Powers. Eisenhower initially tried to deny that American planes had overflown Russia, but the Soviets produced evidence to the contrary and Eisenhower accepted full responsibility. Khrushchev accused the United States of aggression and cancelled the Paris summit. Upon his departure from the presidency, Eisenhower warned the American people of the dangers of the "military-industrial complex" that threatened to take over the direction of American foreign policy.

The Kennedy Years: The Bay of Pigs and the Missile Crisis. Shortly after becoming President, John F. Kennedy learned of a plan for a U.S.-sponsored invasion of Cuba by Cuban "freedom fighters." He approved the plan for April, 1961, and it was a disaster. Within a few hours all the invaders were killed or captured. Kennedy met with Khrushchev in Vienna in June, 1961, a meeting at which Kennedy felt brutalized by the Soviet leader. Two months later Khrushchev sealed off the border between East and West Berlin and built a wall to prevent East Germans from escaping into West Berlin. Vice President Johnson was sent to Germany to reassure the German people, but the Cold War had escalated once again. Then, in October 1962, American reconnaissance flights over Cuba revealed that the Soviets were apparently planning to introduce nuclear weapons into Cuba, a violation of the Monroe Doctrine and a serious threat to American security. For thirteen anxious days events unfolded, and many thought there would be war. But in the end the moderates prevailed and the Soviets backed down and ceased their threatening activity just 90 miles off the coast of Florida. The crisis was over, but the tension had shaken the world. As Secretary of state Dean Rusk later put it, "We were eyeball to eyeball and the other guy blinked."

See Robert F. Kennedy, “Thirteen Days,” and the film based on the book. See also Graham Allison, “Essence of Decision” about the Cuban crisis.

When he returned from his Vienna meeting with Khrushchev, President Kennedy acknowledged that his Soviet counterpart “beat the hell out of me.” He vowed to get tough with the Soviets in order to demonstrate that he (and the U.S.) could not be pushed around. He decided that the time was suitable for a stand, and that Vietnam would be the place. Thus he began the buildup of the American advisory cadre in Vietnam that was to lead to America’s much greater involvement during the Johnson years. While President Johnson’s dream was to create what he called his "Great Society," Vietnam proved an almost fatal distraction, and he found it difficult to focus on domestic issues with the war constantly calling for his attention. (See separate section on Vietnam.)

The Nixon Years began with the Vietnam war in high gear, and American becoming ever more disillusioned with the conflict. During the campaign Nixon had announced a “secret plan” to end the war, which turned out to be “Vietnamization”—turning the war over to the Vietnamese government. While the war dragged on, President Nixon and Dr. Henry Kissinger, Nixon’s chief foreign policy adviser and later Secretary of State, sought to open new diplomatic avenues with Communist China and the Soviet Union. The policy they adopted became known as “detente,” a gradual lessening of tensions. In 1972 Nixon and Kissinger made a historic trip to China and later the same year to Moscow. The U.S. entered several treaties with the two nations and supported China’s admission to the United Nations. A Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty was also signed in Moscow. Better relations between the U.S. and China and the Soviets may also have facilitated the end to America’s participation in the Vietnam War. Just after 1972 presidential election Kissinger signed a peace agreement with Le Duc Tho, the North Vietnamese negotiator. Whatever flaws Richard Nixon may have had, his foreign policy achievements have been considered notable.