Truman's Problems

from Time 1945/05

• Stalin had met allied leaders at Teheran and Yalta during WWII
• July 17-Aug. 2 meeting of Truman, Churchill, Stalin in a suburb of Berlin, but Truman did not get his 85%
  
• no agreement on Poland western boundary, London Poles not allowed in government, but Lublin Poles allowed to expel 9 million Germans from eastern Poland
  
• Germany to be administered as single economic unit by Allied Control Council under Lucius Clay, but Stalin closed all land access to East Germany
  
• Stalin allowed to take 25% of West German industry in exchange for food and coal, but no reparations from other zones
  
• Nazi leaders to be tried as war criminals at Nuremberg
  
• Germany divided and Korea divided
  
• Potsdam Declaration July 26 demands unconditional surrender of Japan, but was surprise to Stalin
  
• Stalin told on July 24 of A-bomb test at Trinity July 23
  
• Stalin refuses to hold elections in occupied East Europe
  
• "trouble spots" appear in the First Year of the Cold War
  

• Berlin Blockade in 1948
• Frankfurt Charter - bizone for West Germany Feb. 9, 1948
  

  from Time 1948

• Brussels Pact created to protect Europe from communism Mar. 17
  
• USSR walked out of Allied Control Commission Mar. 20
  
• for 11 months - June 24, 1948 to May 12, 1949
  
• Lucius Clay orders airlift June 25
  

• "fall of China" to Mao Zedong Oct. 1, 1949
  
• Chiang Kai-shek fled to Formosa
  
• no "third force" could be found except revived Japan

• OPA, strikes, inflation, UMW
  
• Taft-Hartley Act and right to work laws

from Time 1948

• 1946 midterm elections - Richard Nixon, Joseph McCarthy
  
• Robert Taft is "Mr. Republican" in 80th Congress - "had enough?"
  

• Stalin supports invasion of South Korea by Kim Il Sung June 25, 1950 - see Korean War outline
  
• MacArthur's Inchon Plan - to unite Korea and win victory over communism
  
• but China intervenes with 8 divisions Oct. 1950 - stalemate
  

• Threat of Russian spies - Cold War Espionage
• FBI arrested CP leader William Z. Foster in 1948 under the Smith Act; arrested Judith Coplon and her KGB supervisor Valentin Gubitchev in 1949
  
• Whittaker Chambers accused Alger Hiss in HUAC hearings
  
• "a pervasive fear" develops in America
  

Newsreels:

• "War or Peace? 1950 Fateful Year," Universal Newsreel 23-415 (12/21/1950) on DVD60
• "Korea See-Saw Battle For Baldy Ridge Rages," Universal Newsreel 25-585 (8/7/1952) on DVD60

Truman's Solutions

from Crisis of Harry Truman

• threat to seize RR May 16, 1946; coal mines May 21
  
• John L. Lewis and UMW fined $3.5m
  
• vetoed Taft-Hartley "slave labor" bill June 26, 1947
  

• Op. Crossroads July 1, 1946 - AEC, not UN - see Demonstrations
• fired H. Wallace Sept. 20 - cartoon
  

• Exec. Order 9835 Mar. 22, 1947 - FBI data privileged
  

• Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, NSA - see the Containment Cold War policy
  
• Clay's Berlin Airlift 1948; Acheson's NATO 1949
  

• Council of Economic Advisers - Leon Keyserling
  

• vetoed "rich man's tax bill"
  
• called special session for Turnip Day July 26
  
• Fair Employment Board, integration of military
  

• Dixiecrat revolt - Strom Thurmond
  
• Progressive revolt - Henry Wallace
  
• attacked "do-nothing" 80th Congress & T. Dewey
  

Links:

• Cold War Policies
• Episode 5 of Cold War from CNN
• Truman Library Project Whistlestop exhibits
• Are We Winning, Mommy?