The Cold
War
US View:
Soviets were ruthless and evil:
-seeking worldwide communist revolution
-headed by dictators who used aggressive/expansionist foreign policy
-ultimate goal: destroying free world
Soviet View:
US is main threat to peace:
-committed to idea of
capitalist world order
-Americans aimed to surround USSR with hostile capitalist powers
to isolate it
US seeks to destroy communist regimes
around the world
Also of note:
Unprecedented time in American history
Post war confidence and optimism quickly faded
new enemy: USSR
instead of peace we have renewed “war”
5 major world powers were seriously weakened
Atomic age drastically changed foreign affairs
3 Main Schools of Thought:
1. Orthodox School: George
F. Kennan
Soviets were responsible for the Cold War
Communist monolith directed or influenced
movements around the world
Soviets desired spheres of influence, security, and
expansion of “missionary style communism”
Soviets violated agreements with West (i.e. Yalta)
US hoped for peace based on UN and collective
security, but changed to contain Soviet actions
2. Revisionist School:
Walter Lippmann
US actions in Eastern Europe gave USSR a reason
to control it with iron fist
USSR was weak after WWII, and were not willing or
able to act aggressively
Soviets viewed US as a possible source of
economic aid after WWII
The West tried to deny FDR’s Yalta concessions
and began new “Manifest Destiny” policy of
spreading representative democracy and
capitalism
Truman reversed FDR’s internationalism and
cultivated anger rather than friendship with the
USSR
American nuclear superiority was used to browbeat
nations into accepting America’s lead
3. Realists: Hans Morgenthau
Containment was a necessary response to Soviet
aggression
Issues were power politics and national interests
not moral or ideological
FDR didn’t concede anything at Yalta (fait accompli)
Both US and USSR sought limited objectives and
expected the other side to accept them as
limited (which led to countermeasures...)
Eastern Europe was ripe for “revolution” as govt.’s
had failed to solve problems there
Western Europe was NOT ripe for revolution, the
threat to them was over-exaggerated
A-Bomb was used to keep USSR out of Japan, not
to saber rattle (to avoid East Europe situation)
Soviet actions were directed at self defense not
expansionism
