Winning the Cold War was the central goal of the United States from 1945 all the way until the fall of communism in 1990 to 1991. Almost all domestic and foreign policy decisions made in this era related in some way to American efforts to defeat the Soviet Union and their allies. A large part of the success of many sectors of the American economy in the post-World War (I era was related to defense and defense-related contracts. Some) politicians lost their careers in this era if they were perceived to be “soft on communism.”
Exactly whose fault was the Cold War? Initially hundreds of books and articles have been written about that very subject. American historians assigned blame to the Soviet Union for aggressive actions on their part in the period immediately following the end of World War II. “Revisionist” American historians have claimed that the Soviets were forced into these actions by the perceived aggressiveness of the United States and its allies. What actually happened in those years immediately following World War II is the subject of this chapter.
THE FIRST CRACKS IN THE ALLIANCE: 1945
The alliance that proved victorious in World War II began to show strains even before the end of the war. In the preceding chapter it was mentioned that tough decisions were made at the Yalta Conference, including allowing elections in Eastern European nations. Stalin was especially reluctant to allow free elections in Poland; as Hitler demonstrated, it provided a perfect invasion route into Soviet territory.
The United States would be somewhat handicapped diplomatically by the death of Franklin Roosevelt in April 1945. Roosevelt had excellent personal relations with Winston Churchill and felt that he could at least “understand” Stalin. When Harry Truman took over the presidency, he has little experience in foreign affairs, and Roosevelt had met with him only several times, sharing little about the appropriate way to deal with America’s wartime allies.
Truman met Soviet diplomats for the first time at the initial session of the United Nations, which was held in San Francisco two weeks after he took over as president. His first face-to-face meeting with Stalin took place at the Potsdam Conference, held at the end of July in 1945. Truman, Stalin, and Clement Atlee (who had just replaced Churchill as Prime Minster) represented the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain at this meeting. Again, the future of Eastern Europe was discussed. It was also decided to hold war-crimes trials for top Nazi leaders (the most famous of these would be known as the Nuremberg Trials). At this meeting Truman announced to Stalin the existence of the atomic bomb (ironically, Stalin had learned of it some two weeks earlier from Soviet spies in the United States).
Great philosophical differences between the two sides were apparent at this meeting also explored at this meeting. Truman expressed the view that free elections should be held in all Eastern European countries. Stalin, on the other hand, expressed the desire to have Eastern European satellite countries, which would act as buffers to potential future invasions of the Soviet Union.