HIS-450 From World War to Cold War Worksheet

HIS-450 Topic 1 From World War to Cold
War Worksheet
Instructions: In 200 words Each, respond to the following prompts.
Each prompt should be supported with research. Each response is
worth 7 points.
1. Describe the significance of the Truman Doctrine to the Cold War.
Truman doctrine was pronounced by the American president Harry S.
Truman on 22nd May, 1947 in the post-world war era. The World War II led
to a complete devastation and instability both politically and
economically. The Soviet States of Russia was becoming powerful and it
seemed that the states of Turkey and Greece would fall under the control
of Soviet Russia (Underhill, 2017). The reason behind that was the
announcement made by the United Kingdom that they would not be
providing any financial or military assistance to the Greek Government.
There was a civil war going on between the Greek Government and the
Greek Communist party (Policy statement about American objectives in
Southeast Asia, 1952).
In his speech to the joint session of congress, Truman announced that
USA would not take a backseat in the world affairs and would provide aid
to the European countries seeking establish a democratic government.
This led to the growing unrest between the USA and the Russia that led to
the cold war between the two countries (Chambers, 2017). He opined that
assisting these countries were important as the world might fall into a
minority ruling based on terrorism and oppression. This announcement
had under veiled reference to Russian communist government which
ignited the growing political problems between the two countries.
2. How did the Marshall Plan impact the future of Europe?
The Marshall Plan was the legal implementation of the Truman
Doctrine. Following the World War II, the Greek Government appealed to
Truman for economic and military assistance as Britain had withdrawn
their support from the Greek government in their struggle with the Greek
Communist party (Center & Owen, 2016). Truman announced his
intension to help Greece in their aim to become a democratic nation. The
Truman Doctrine was followed by Marshall Plan through which Truman
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was able to grant an aid of $13 million to Greece. In his appeal, Truman
also asked for financial and military assistance to Turkey for the
establishment of Democratic government.
The Marshall Plan and Truman Doctrine both led to a clear division
between the USA ideology and that of the Soviet Union. This tension
finally led to Cold war between the two countries which created a clear
division within the nations of the world between USA and Russian allies
(Charap & Shapiro, 2016). As the need of Europe at that time was much
more dependent on USA, most of the countries that established a
democratic government post war, did so with the aid of USA.
3. How did the social and racial changes that occurred during WWII
impact U.S. society after the war?
The end of the Second World War brought with it many social changes
that changed the course if American history. Post World War era saw a
massive migration towards cities and towns mainly with the African
American population (Cowan, 2018). They migrated mainly to the
northern regions of America where they had the right to vote. The
Mexican migration also showed increased rate. This led to the increase in
political interest in these regions. Apart from that, there were widespread
racial discriminations going on.
The black and Mexican war veterans who returned from war saw the
discriminations that they had to face and started protesting against it
which finally led to Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Movement was
a response of the African American soldiers who fought for the American
cause and felt betrayed of their emancipation promises. After returning
they became determined to exact their full rights as citizens of America
(Riches, 2017). Another impact that America had was the increase of
women employment in the post war era. Due to the mobilization of
soldiers in the war zones, women had to sustain the living of their family.
Moreover, there were also an increase in the number of women in the
military.
4. What is NATO and why was (is) it important to the West?
NATO or North Atlantic Treaty Organization was a military alliance that
was established in 1949. This association was created to balance the
power of the soviet armies that were posted in the central and western
European countries even after the post-world war (McGhee, 2016). The
original members of NATO ware USA, UK, Canada, France, Belgium,
Denmark, Italy, Iceland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway and Portugal.

The NATO is geographically defined as gives provision for the European
and American countries to join forces and thus can be seen as the
embodiment of western power. They remain open for countries belonging
to this region to join (National Defense Education Act, 1958).
The main purpose of NATO was to maintain the unification of western
powers and strengthen their position as well. During the years of cold war
and any subsequent war after the World War II, NATO had been one of the
major power backing up the member countries. Due to the increasing
power of NATO, the western powers and Russia was able to reach a
strategic relation and joined hands in fighting against terrorism, nuclear
threats and control in arms production (Kaufman, 2017). The importance
of NATO lies in the fact that they have managed to contain many of the
threats at a minimum.
5. What was the Red Scare? What role did the HUAC (House Un-
American Activities Committee) play during the Red Scare? What
was the overall impact of the Red Scare on U.S. society?
The Red Scare is a term used to define two periods in the USA history.
The first Red Scare ended in 1920s. Red Scare is basically a time period
when people of the United States of America were extremely worried
about the uprising of the communist activities and movements.
Accusations and imprisonment without reason or trail became the norm
during this time. The second Red Scare started during the term of US
senator McCarthy, from 1940s to 1950s when similar events took place
(Willard, 2017).
HUAC was formed in 1938 and played an important role in the second
red scare. They were the investigative body that took note of the
uprisings and protestations to determine the communist activities. Their
job was to reveal the identities of the communist revolutionaries working
within the USA Government or Hollywood (National Security Council
Memorandum Number 68, 1950).
The actions that were taken during the Red Scare led to profound
impacts on USA. The first effect was the nationwide hysteria that the Red
Scare promoted (Hughes, 2016). People were in fear that America was
going to experience a Bolshevik revolution that would affect the American
life in all spheres. Numerous anti-communist films and other media
showed the fear of the people, so much so that the word “red” became a
taboo.

References
Center, B., & Owen, J. (2016). The Marshall Plan as Analyzed with National
Values Theory and Defensive Realism.
Chambers, C. (2017). Halting the Iron Curtain at the Mediterranean: The
Greek Civil War and the Origins of the Truman Doctrine (Doctoral
dissertation).
Charap, S., & Shapiro, J. (2016). US–Russian relations: The middle cannot
hold. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 72(3), 150-155.
Cowan, R. S. (2018). The “industrial revolution” in the home: household
technology and social change in the twentieth century. In The
Routledge Companion to Modernity, Space and Gender (pp. 81-97).
Routledge.
Hughes, A. (2016). Scapegoat Hysteria: A Comparison of the Salem Witch
Trials and the Red Scare.
Kaufman, J. P. (2017). The US perspective on NATO under Trump: lessons of
the past and prospects for the future. International Affairs, 93(2), 251-
266.
McGhee, G. (2016). The US-Turkish-NATO middle east connection: How the
Truman doctrine and Turkey's NATO entry contained the soviets.
Springer.
National Defense Education Act (1958). Retrieved 7 February 2020, from
http://media.pearsoncmg.com/pls/az/gcu/1323178368/Natl_Defense_E
ducation_Act.html
National Security Council Memorandum Number 68 (1950). Retrieved 7
February 2020, from
http://media.pearsoncmg.com/pls/az/gcu/1323178368/Natl_Security_C
ouncil_Memo.html
Policy statement about American objectives in Southeast Asia, June 25, 1952,
in The Pentagon Papers (Boston: Beacon Press, 1971), vol. 2, pp. 286–
288. (2020). Retrieved 7 February 2020, from
http://media.pearsoncmg.com/pls/az/gcu/1323178368/Policy_Southeas
t_Asia_1952_Pent.html
Riches, W. (2017). The civil rights movement: Struggle and resistance.
Macmillan International Higher Education.
Underhill, S. M. (2017). Prisoner of Context: The Truman Doctrine Speech and
J. Edgar Hoover’s Rhetorical Realism. Rhetoric & Public Affairs, 20(3),
453-488.

Willard, M. (2017). Shameful Victory: The Los Angeles Dodgers, the Red
Scare, and the Hidden History of Chavez Ravine. By John HM Laslett.