Cold War George Kennan and “The Long Telegram” Charge d'affaires Moscow 1944-46 22 February 1946 Response to State Department Foundation of US Government “Containment” policy
Jan 07, 2016
Cold WarCold War
George Kennan and “The Long Telegram”Charge d'affaires Moscow 1944-46 22 February 1946Response to State DepartmentFoundation of US Government “Containment” policy
Cold WarCold War War’s End
Immediate Soviet expansion– Poland – Czechoslovakia– Rumania– Yugoslavia*– Albania– Bulgaria– Hungary– East Germany– “Warsaw Pact”
Cold WarCold War
Cold WarCold War FDR vision of post-war peace
Four global policemen– US– Britain– USSR– People’s Republic of China
Untenable US leadership
Must resist Soviet expansionJustificationTraditional “Balance of Power”
Cold WarCold War
To set a US policy visa-vis the USSRRoot causes of soviet behavior– Had US adequately communicated pacific intent?– Was USSR rejecting postwar cooperation?– Was US/USSR friendship impossible?
Kennan’s “Long Telegram” provided an intellectual framework for US/Soviet policy
Cold WarCold War Kennan’s analysis
US not culpable for Soviet behaviorCause deeply rooted in – Russian tradition– Soviet ideology
From time immemorial Russia under the Tzars sought– Poland– Bulgaria– Warm water port
Historic sense of insecurity
Cold WarCold War Stalin a “true believer”
Capitalist west irrevocably hostile“In this [communist] dogma, with its basic altruism of purpose, they found justification for their instinctive fear of the outside world, for the dictatorship without which they did not know how to rule, for cruelties they did not dare not to inflict, for sacrifices they felt bound to demand.... Without it they would stand before history, at best, as only the last of that long succession of cruel and wasteful Russian rulers who have relentlessly forced [their] country on to ever new heights of military power in order to guarantee external security of their internally weak regimes.…”
Cold WarCold War America must prepare for a long fight Goals/philosophies of US-USSR irreconcilable Clark Clifford
Truman advisorGeneral agreement"The main deterrent to Soviet attack on the United States, or to attack on areas of the world which are vital to our security, will be the military power of this country."
Cold WarCold War Global US security mission
Includes “all democratic countries which are in any way menaced or endangered by the U.S.S.R.“Interpretation of “democratic countries”
– Western Europe only?– Mideast?– Southeast Asia?
Clifford: Containment nontraditional policySoviet-US conflict not due to differing national interests
– Negotiable– Due to moral failings of Soviet system/leadership
Cold WarCold War Clifford: small ruling clique in USSR to blame Significant Soviet change of heart + New Soviet leadership= US friendship At some point the “new leadership in USSR
"work out with us a fair and equitable settlement when they realize that we are too strong to be beaten and too determined to be frightened."
Cold WarCold War
No provision for general negotiation process No “end game” So long as the Soviet Union maintained its
ideology, negotiations were treated as pointless Bottom line: America now held the conceptual
framework to justify political cal and military resistance to Soviet expansionism
Cold WarCold War
Truman “containment”Greece– Beset w/ communist guerillas aided through
Yugoslavia/Bulgaria– USSR made territorial demands against Turkey, along
with a request for Soviet bases in the Straits – Britain protected but in late 1946 could no longer do so– Atlee request US to take over– Truman willing but had to convince Republican house
Cold WarCold War Sec. State Dean Acheson
" Acheson boldly presented the group with visions of a bleak future in which the forces of communism stood to gain the upper hand: "Only two great powers remained in the world . . . [the] United States and the Soviet Union. We had arrived at a situation unparalleled since ancient times. Not since Rome and Carthage had there been such a polarization of power on this earth. . . . For the United States to take steps to strengthen countries threatened with Soviet aggression or communist subversion . . . was to protect the security of the United States - it was to protect freedom itself "
Cold WarCold War Greek-Turkish aid program portrayed as part of the global
struggle between democracy and dictatorship 12 March 1947 Truman Doctrine
“…to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation, by armed minorities or by outside pressures." Traditional Wilsonian terms of a struggle between two ways of lifeAmerica had thrown down the moral gauntletthe kind of realpoliltik Stalin understood would be forever at an endBargaining over reciprocal concessions would be out of the question
Cold WarCold War Criticism at both ends of political spectrum
America was defending countries that, however important, were morally unworthyAmerica was committing itself to the defense of societies that, whether free or not, were not vital to American security
5 June 1947 Marshall Plancommitted America to the task of eradicating the social and economic conditions that tempted aggressionAmerica would aid European recoveryRestore the world economy and to nurture free institutionsPersuasive policy
Cold WarCold War George Kennan "The Sources of Soviet Conduct“
Political Affairs July 1947 “X”Expanded version of “Long Telegram”Hostility to the democracies was inherent in the Soviet domestic structure Would prove impervious to conciliatory Western policiesTension with the outside world was inherent in the very nature of communist philosophy and in the way the Soviet system was being run domestically
Cold WarCold War Main concern of Soviet policy was "to make sure that it
has filled every nook and cranny available to it in the basin of world power."
The way to defeat Soviet strategy was by "a policy of firm containment, designed to confront the Russians with unalterable counterforce at every point where they show signs of encroaching upon the interests of a peaceful and stable world."
Cold WarCold War Soviet Russia lacked legitimacy in its transfer of power Sooner or later counter claims would emerge "For the membership at large has been exercised only
in the practices of iron discipline and obedience and not in the arts of compromise and accommodation.... lf, consequently, anything were ever to occur to disrupt the unity and efficacy of the party as a political instrument, Soviet Russia might be changed overnight from one of the strongest to one of the weakest arid most pitiable of national societies."
Cold WarCold War The mechanism: Containment he had charged America with combating Soviet
pressures for the indefinite future all around a vast periphery that embraced the widely differing circumstances of Asia, the middle East and Europe. The Kremlin was, moreover, free to select its point of attack, presumably only where it calculated it would have the greatest advantage. Henry Kissinger
Cold WarCold War
INGREDIENTS OF CONTAINMENT – Committed US to seemingly endless struggle– Initiative USSR’s– Sphere of influence– No negotiations
Critical time Atomic monopoly
– Premise of Containment - positions of strength had yet to be built – Cold War became both militarized and imbued with an inaccurate
impression of the West's relative weakness.
Cold WarCold War Redemption of the Soviet Union became the ultimate goal
of policy Stability could emerge only after redemption Issue of Soviet-American relations is in essence a test of
the overall worth of the United States as a nation among nations
“The thoughtful observer of Russian-American relations will find no cause for complaint in the Kremlin's challenge to American society. He will rather experience a certain gratitude to a providence which, by providing the American people with this implacable challenge, has made their entire security as a nation dependent on their pulling themselves together and accepting the responsibilities of moral and political leadership that history plainly intended them to bear.” Kissinger
Cold WarCold War
Task of containment so complex that America would nearly tear itself apart trying to fulfill it
Essentially passive with respect to diplomacy with the Soviet Union
Evoked creativity when it came to building "positions of strength" in the military and economic realms
Cold WarCold War In containment were merged lessons derived from the
two most important American experiences of the previous generation
From the New Deal came the belief that threats to political stability arise primarily from gaps between economic and social expectations and reality (Marshall Plan)From WWII America learned that the best protection against aggression is having overwhelming power and the willingness to use it (NATO)
Cold WarCold War
CritiquesWalter Lippmann: containment policy led to psychological and geopolitical overextension while draining American resources. Result: economic exhaustionWinston Churchill: objected to the postponement of negotiations until after positions of strength had been achieved
Cold War Cold War Critiques of Containment
Henry Wallace: who denied America the moral right to undertake the policy of containment in the first place “Wallace argued that the Soviet sphere of influence in Central Europe was legitimate and that America's resistance to it only intensified tension. He urged a return to what he viewed as Roosevelt's policy: to end the Cold War by American conciliation.” Henry Kissinger
Cold WarCold War
Lippman=realist Churchill=balance of power Wallace=radical Lippan/Curchill: accept USSR expansionism
represented a serious challenge contested the strategy for resisting it
Wallace: rejected every aspect of containment
Cold WarCold War Wallace
Like most American liberals since Jefferson insisted that "the same moral principles which governed in private life also should govern in international affairs.“United States had no moral right to intervene abroad until it had its own society of prejudice, hatred and fearPostulating the moral equivalence of American and Soviet actions became a characteristic of the radical critique throughout the Cold War
Cold WarCold War Containment’s 1st challenge
Berlin– June 1948, the Soviet Union attempted to control all of Berlin by
cutting surface traffic to and from the city of West Berlin– The Truman administration reacted with a continual daily airlift which
brought food and supplies into the city of West Berlin– This Airbridge to Berlin lasted until the end of September of 1949---
although on May 12, 1949, the Soviet government yielded and lifted the blockade
Cold WarCold War
Cold War Cold War Korea
1947 “loss” of ChinaJuly 24, 1945 Potsdam Conference, President Truman asked USSR help against Japan Sept 9, 1945 US accepts Japanese surrender in Korea, South of 38th parallel Nov 14, 1947 U.N. Resolution to remove troops from Korea after national elections. April 8, 1948 President Truman orders withdrawal of US troops from Korea Aug 15, 1948 Republic of Korea proclaimed. Syngman Rhee elected first president, Cold War
Cold WarCold War Sept 9, 1948 Democratic People's Republic of Korea
claims jurisdiction over all Korea January 12 Truman's Secretary of State Dean Acheson
confirms Korea and Taiwan are outside American Far East security cordon
January 12 Truman's Secretary of State Dean Acheson confirms Korea and Taiwan are outside American Far East security cordon
June 1 NK strength at 135,000, with seven assault divisions and 150 T34 tanks
Col War Col War June 25 Korean time NK invades Republic of South
Korea (ROK) without warning June 25 UN Security Council demands NK stop its
attack and return to its borders June 29 ROK Capitol Seoul falls, bridges across Han
river destroyed. Most of ROK army trapped on northern side
June 30 President Truman commits US Troops to enforce UN demand
Cold WarCold War July 5 Task Force Smith, 1st Btn, 21st Regiment, 24th
Infantry Division, supported by Battery A, 52nd FA Btn, crushed by NK 4th Division
July 7 United Nations Command created, under General Douglas MacArthur
July 13 -July26 NK-6 drives unnoticed down the West Coast, capturing Chonju, begins an assault on Chinju, having outflanked the Eighth Army. NK-6 is positioned to drive to Pusan and cut off all UN forces in Korea (Pusan Perimeter)
Cold WarCold War
Cold WarCold War July 29 General Walker issues 'Stand or Die' order Sept 15 Inchon Landings Sept 16-19 UN breaks the Pusan Perimeter cordon Sept 27 MacArthur given permission to cross the 38th
Parallel into North Korea October 19 NK capitol Pyongyang falls Nov 26-30 US 2nd and 25th Divisions are defeated and
begin general Eighth Army retreat in the west July 10, 1951 Truce talks begin at Kaesong August 23 Communists break off talks
Cold WarCold War
October 25 Peace talks resume at Kaesong July 27, 1953 Cease-fire signed.
Cold War Cold War Containment tested again
Vietnam – "We are not going to bungle into war.“ JFK
1919 Ho Chi Minh wrote to U.S. Secretary of State Robert Lansing to seek help in freeing his people from French colonial domination after the First World War
– October 17, 1945 Ho Chi Minh cabled President Harry S. Truman, seeking American support for Vietnam "to take part in the Advisory Commission for the Far East.“
Cold WarCold War “…there are 1,100,000,000 brown people. In
many Eastern countries they are ruled by a handful of whites and they resent it. Our goal must be to help them achieve independence -- 1,100,000,000 potential enemies are dangerous.“ FDR
State Department bureaucracy opposed his view and favored French colonial continuationRoosevelt died the following month
Cold WarCold War
Truman’s focus was on Europe Korea Military aid to France vs Viet Minh Eisenhower & France
Nuclear solutionIke rejects
Cold WarCold War Money Guns and Lawyers Ho Chi Minh had been strictly a nationalist until
rebuffed by the Americans in 1919 Went to Moscow and joined the newly founded
Third International Conference of the Communist Party
France: Those who did not help the colonialists would be helping the Communists
Cold WarCold War Many in the U.S., in fact, were mildly sympathetic to the
Viet Minh as the fighting started in 1946 General Matthew Ridgway had succeeded in his efforts
to convince Eisenhower to stay out of the Indochina war, which at various times flared in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev speech supporting "wars of national liberation" and he specifically naming Vietnam as an example
Cold WarCold War
Kennedy: Maxwell Taylor Chief of General Staff8000 ground combat troops to Vietnam for a startJFK refusedMoved troops around as a show of force2d Berlin CrisisUS economy, civil rights, labor strife, agriculture and the threat of nuclear war
Cold WarCold War May 10, 1961 JCS went on the record as favoring the
use of U.S. combat troops in Vietnam Two years of dithering and “in-fighting” In June he told the graduating class of military officers at
West Point:"This is a new kind of war, new in its intensity, ancient in its origin ... war by guerrillas, subversives, insurgents, assassins; war by ambush instead of combat, by infiltration instead of aggression, seeking victory by exhausting the enemy instead of engaging him.“
Kennedy mistook the nature of the conflict
Cold WarCold War
Kennedy’s generals didn’t correct him Best and brightest Robert McNamara, McGeorge Bundy, Robert
Kennedy, Roswell Gilpatrick, George Ball, Robert Lovett, Arthur Schlesinger, Theodore Sorensen, Pierre Salinger
Cold WarCold War
McNamaraFormer Pres. Ford Motor Co.Sec DefAll numbersNo policyNo theory
Cold WarCold War Gulf of Tonkin: The thin end of the wedge
Gulf of Tonkin staging area of the U.S. Seventh Fleet August 1964Destroyer USS Maddox conducting a "DeSoto patrol", an espionage mission2 August North Vietnamese torpedo patrol boats attack Maddox
U.S.S. Ticonderoga sent aircraft to repel North Vietnamese attackers. Sunk one boat damaged others
Cold WarCold War
Gulf of TonkinIn an attempt to possibly lure the North Vietnamese into an engagement, both the Maddox and the C. Turner Joy were in the gulf on August 4The captain of the Maddox had read his ship’s instruments as saying that the ship was under attack or had been attacked and began an immediate retaliatory strike into the night.
Cold WarCold War
Captain concluded hours later that there might not have been an actual attack.
Event was purposely misconstrued when presented to Congress and the public by President Johnson and his administration
August 7, the "Tonkin Gulf Resolution“ passed, 416 to 0 by the House and 88 to 2 by the Senate
Cold WarCold WarGulf of Tonkin
Cold WarCold War
The resolutionStipulated that the President of the United States could "take all necessary measures to repel armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression.”July 1965, the U.S. would had 80,000 troops mobilized and operating in South Vietnam
Cold War Cold War “You know you never defeated us on the battlefield,”
said the American colonel. The North Vietnamese colonel pondered this remark a moment. “That may be so,” he replied, “but it is also irrelevant.” Hanoi, 1975
Viet Nam war: Nature of the conflictKennedy had it wrongDau Tranh the struggle
– Truong Chinh (1907-1988)– The Resistance Will Win, a 1947 treatise on people's war, its
strategies, and its Maoist roots
Cold WarCold War
MaoThe enemy advances-we retreatThe enemy camps-we harassThe enemy tires-we attackThe enemy retreats-we pursue
Cold WarCold War
Elements of Dau TranhThe people themselves are seen as the agents of war and victoryMobilization of all persons and familiesNo such thing as noncombatantsWar longer than Western leaders anticipateTactics and ideology are less important than united front organizations and full mobilization
Cold War Cold War Dau Tranh
Armed struggle is unlike Western combatKidnapping, assassinations, guerrilla forces, and political violencePlaced the theater of war within hamlets and villages in southern Vietnam as well as within the major cities As areas of southern Vietnam became "liberated,“ communist forces gained not only new friends and allies but safe havens
Cold WarCold WarArmed Dau Trahn Political Dau Tranh
Armed Dau Tranh
Regular Force Strategy Protracted Conflict
Hi-tech Limited ObjMaoisticGuerilla
War
NewRev.
Guerilla
Enemy
Cold WarCold War
Political Dau Tranh
Dich VanAction among
the enemy
Binh VanAction among the
military
Dan VanAction among the
people
Cold WarCold War “…we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any
hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” JFK
Moral imperative– Preserve the right of self determination establish democratic S.
Vietnam– Contest between open and closed society– S. Vietnam could become bulwark against totalitarianism in SE Asia
Cold WarCold War
US competing perception of nature of warOrthodox , small scale, limited size, Korean-like conflict
– Standard application mass movement– Fire power– Technology– “No substitute for victory”
Cold WarCold War 1965
Ia Drang Valley– Albany– X-ray
1966Mekong Delta
– Viet Cong 1967
“Junction City”– Largest of the war– Cambodian border
Cold WarCold War
1968Tet– Khe Sanh– Saigon – Hue
Cold WarCold War
1969First substantive peace talks in Paris“Vietnamization”Peak US troop strength 548,482
Cold WarCold War 1969
Battle of Ap Bia (Hamburger Hill) 1970
Cambodia 30 April-30 June 1971
11 August all land combat turned over to the Vietnamese 1972
Easter OffensiveMining of N. Vietnamese harbors
Cold WarCold War
197323 January-Cease Fire29 March last US troops leaveApril 1975 Saigon falls, Ho Chi Minh City
Cold WarCold War
Vietnam, why was it the way it was?Lyndon Baines Johnson and the Great Society– Speech at Ann Arbor MI May, 1964– “The Great Society rests on abundance and
liberty for all. It demands an end to poverty and racial injustice, to which we are totally committed in our time. But that is just the beginning.”
Cold WarCold War Great Society
The Economic Opportunity Act 1964– Provided training to disadvantaged youths aged 16-21– Helped low income students to work their way through
college – Recruited volunteers to work and teach in low income
areas Medicare and Medicaid 1965– This provided medical insurance for the over-65s and
hospital coverage for the poor
Cold WarCold War
Great SocietyEnvironmental Protection– A series of laws to try and ensure clean water and enforce
air quality standards
City Improvements – The Development Act 1964– Provided money for replacing the inner city with new
homes.
Cold WarCold War
Here dead we lieBecause we did not chooseTo live and shame the land From which
we sprung.Life, to be sure,Is nothing much to lose, But young men think it is, And we were young. -- A. E. Housman
ESSAYSESSAYS
Compare/contrast Marxist-Leninist Communism with Nazism.
Recount the issues and decisions that resulted from the Versailles treaty that led to WWII
Contrast two opposing schools of thought on the cause of and cure for the Great Depression.
How did the policy that descended from the “Long Telegram” affect Soviet-American relations?
WWI and WWII have been called the “Second Thirty Years War,” why?