Moravian College Chapter 24 The Cold War and George Kennan Essay

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11 November 4,6 The Cold War EAH, Chapter 24. Primary Sources 24.1, 24.2, 24.3, 24.5, Primary Source Handout on George Kennan’s “Long Telegram.” Was Kennan right about the Soviets. What information would you need to corroborate his assertions? 11 T-Mobile 4:50 PM @ 1 64% Back How to Read a pri... HOW TO READ A PRIMARY SOURCE (with thanks to the major author, Prof. Patrick Rael, Bowdoin College) Good reading is about asking questions of your sources. Keep the following in mind when reading primary sources. Even if you believe you can't arrive at the answers, imagining possible answers will aid your comprehension. * What patterns or ideas are repeated throughout the readings? *What major differences appear in them? *What values and fundamental assumptions underlie their content? *What is the author's place in society? Even if I don't know her or his place in society, what could it be, based on the document? *What is "at stake" for the author of the text? What could have motivate her or him to write it? Describe what you think is the purpose of this document. *Is the author reliable? Is the author credible? Is the author neutral towards the subject? Is the author biased? What evidence supports your contentions? What is the tone of this document: angry? wistful? ironic?... or? *What in the document can I consider historical "fact"? What can I consider the author's "interpretation"? What can I actually know for sure about the past based on this document? *If I were a contemporary of the author, how might I react to the document? Would I be sympathetic? Antagonistic? How might my reaction to the content change, depending on my place in society? *How do the ideas and values in the source differ from the ideas and values of my own age? *What are my own preconceptions and assumptions regarding the subject of the source? How do they influence the way I read and evaluate the document? *How might a scholar use this document to support her or his arguments? What kinds of arguments might this document support? *What problems might a scholar encounter in using this source? Does the source represent a common experience or a unique circumstance? *If a historian used this source, what sorts of criticism might other historians offer? **HOW DOES THIS DOCUMENT RELATE TO WHAT I HAVE LEARNED FROM THE LECTURES AND THE TEXT? Does it support or contradict what I have read or heard? What can the context I have learned tell me about this document, and vice versa? 3 ||| Dashboard Calendar To Do Notifications Inbox WINDOW TO THE PAST Ronald Reagan Testimony before HUAC, 1947 During the Cold War with the Soviet Union, the United States became preoccupied with searching for and punishing Communists at home. In 1947 the House Committee on Un- American Activities investigated alleged Communism in Hollywood. The committee heard the testimony of Ronald Reagan, the president of the Screen Actors Guild, who declared that his organization had successfully countered Communist influence. To discover more about what this primary source can show us, see Document 24.5 on page 817. Mr. Rragax. Well, sir, I would like to say, as Mr. Montgomery and Mr. Murply have indicated, they have done it very well. I have been alarmed by the misapprehension, the feeling around, that it was a minority fighting against a majority on this issue in our business, and I would like in answering that question to reiterate what those gentle- men have said, that rather 99 percent of us are pretty well aware of what is going on, and I think within the bounds of our democratic rights, and never once stepping over the rights given us by democracy, we have done a pretty good job in our business of keeping those people's activities curtailed. After all, we must recognize them at present as a political party. On that basis we have exposed their fies when we came across them, we have opposed their propaganda, and I can certainly testify that in the case of the Screen Actors Guild we have been eminently successful in preventing them from, with their usual tactics, trying to run a majority of an organization with a well organized minority. So that fundamentally I would say in opposing those people that the best thing to do is to make democracy work. In the Screen Actors Guild we make it work by insuring everyone a vote and by keeping everyone informed. I believe that, as Thomas Jefferson put it, if all the American people know all of the facts they will never make a inistake. LEARNING OBJECTIVES 1 After reading this chapter you should be able to: Explain the origins of the Cold War. Identify how the overall strategy of containment changed between 1948 and 1953, and explain in particular how the Korean War affected U.S. Cold War strategy and presidential power. Analyze the effects of the Cold War on domestic policy. Evaluate how the Eisenhower administration managed containment throughout the world. 1 A Swipe to turn pages-> GUIDED ANALYSIS Henry Wallace | The Way to Peace, 1946 By the late 1940s, tensions between the two superpowers threatened to erupt into armed conflict. Opinion within the U.S. government about how to respond to this challenge ranged widely: Some urged cooperation, while others argued for aggressive confrontation with the Soviet Union. In the following selection, Secretary of Commerce Henry Wallace criticizes aggressive responses to the Soviet Union. Document 24.1 "Getting tough" never bought anything real and lasting—whether for schoolyard bullies or businessmen or world powers. The tougher we get, the tougher the Russians will get. Throughout the world there are numerous reactionary elements which had hoped for Axis victory—and now profess great friendship for the United States. Yet, these enemies of yesterday and false friends of today continually try to provoke war between the United States and Russia. They have no real love of the United States. They only long for the day when the United States and Russia will destroy each other. We must not let our Russian policy be guided or influenced by those inside or outside the United States who want war with Russia. This does not mean appeasement. ... The real peace treaty we now need is between the United States and Russia. On our part, we should recognize that we have no more business in the political affairs of Eastern Europe than Russia has in the political affairs of Latin America, Western Europe, and the United States. We may not like what Russia does in Eastern Europe. Her type of land reform, industrial expropriation, and suppression of basic liberties offends the great majority of the people of the United States. But whether we like it or not the Russians will try to socialize their sphere of influence just as we try to democratize our sphere of influence. ... Russia must be convinced that we are not planning for war against her and we must be certain that Russia is not carrying on territorial expansion or world domination through native communists faithfully following every twist and turn in the Moscow party line. But in this competition, we must insist on an open door for trade throughout the world. There will always be an ideological conflict—but that is no reason why diplomats cannot work out a basis for both systems to live safely in the world side by side. Source: Henry Wallace, "The Way to Peace," in The Annals of America (Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1968), 16:372–73. • According to Wallace, why do some countries want the United States to confront the Soviet Union? How does recognition of a nation's spheres of influence affect Wallace's thinking? • What does Wallace indicate the United States would gain from pursuing peace with the Soviet Union? Put It in Context • Why do you think American foreign policy leaders rejected Wallace's perspective in the postwar period? The Truman Doctrine, which pledged to protect democratic countries and contain the expansion of communism, was the cornerstone of American foreign policy throughout the Cold War. The United States committed itself to shoring up governments, whether democratic or dictatorial, as long as they were avowedly anti-Communist. Americans believed that the rest of the world's nations wanted to be like the United States and therefore would not willingly accept communism, which they thought could be imposed only from the outside by the Soviet Union and never reasonably chosen
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