Combating Communism? Give Billions

Today in 1947, U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall explained the Marshall Plan. After World War II ended, Europe found itself in economic peril. At the same time, the Cold War was quickly erupting between the United States and the Soviet Union. The U.S. immediately became concerned that the U.S.S.R. would take advantage of Europe’s economic woes and spread communism through the European continent. Within two years of the end of the Second World War, much of Europe lay in ruins, with widespread food shortages and rampant inflation. In 1946-47, Europe experienced a severe winter, exacerbating the economic problem and strengthening communist parties in France and Italy. The U.S. was quickly becoming very concerned.
George C. Marshall announced a recovery plan for Europe’s economy. The plan invited all European nations to request monetary assistance. This would kill two birds with one stone for the U.S. First, it would help eliminate conditions where it was feared communism might flourish. Second, it would create an automatic market for American goods, thus ensuring the American economy’s stability and strength. Marshall insisted the program was not first pointed at combating communism, “Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine, but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos.” Who could challenge fighting hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos?

Apparently, no one. While there were some isolationists who held out against the U.S. becoming involved in world affairs, they were quickly quieted by communist takeovers in Czechoslovakia and Poland. The Marshall Plan became one of the most successful foreign aid and programs in history.

The U.S. government poured billions of dollars into Europe and encouraged Americans to also aid Europe by visiting the continent. The Plan was well advertised (see the above image, insisting that without the plan American families would eventually starve!)
This brief history of the Marshall Plan begs the question, would the U.S. be able to pay so much out in a current situation? Would we loan billions to Iraq or Afghanistan?

Spoils of War, the Lessons of WWI Shape the WWII’s V-E Day

Today in 1945: Victory in Europe Day! The previous day, Germany surrendered to the allies ending World War II in Europe. This began a series of peace conferences.
When World War I, or the Great War as it was known at the time, came to an end, the peace treaties focused punishment. Germany was held responsible for the four-year-long war that had devastated Europe and its inhabitants. Germany was financially responsible and required to pay off the war debts. Not surprisingly, they were unable to make such expensive payments and defaulted on their loans. The U.S. loaned Germany some money that allowed Germany to pay other European nations back. These European nations then used this money to pay the U.S. back, so essentially the U.S. was paying its own loans. The detriment that this debt caused Germany to become, some have argued (including myself), susceptible to a leader like Hitler and the Nazi party. This of course led directly to the second World War.
In the World War II peace treaties, despite protests from countries like France who wanted to reap the benefits of victory (although they fell to Germany within a matter of a few weeks), the decision was made to not hold Germany financially responsible. Instead, Germany was divided into four parts, with the U.S., Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union each receiving leadership of one part. This will eventually lead to the creation of West Germany and East Germany.
After World War I, Wilson persuaded the leaders to create the League of Nations. This group of counties (the U.S. excluded, as Congress did not ratify its entry) was supposed to link the world together and prevent future world wars. However, it lacked any real power, as was seen in the 1930s with respect to Germany and Japan’s actions. The Big Three (U.S., Great Britain, & U.S.S.R) at the WWII conferences also recognized this problem. They instead created the United Nations and included a Security Council that could actual enforce its rules. Unlike the the League of Nations, the U.N. retains its power (though limited at times) until this day.
This was not the end of the second World War, Japan would not surrender until August 1945, after the dropping of two atomic bombs. But this day marked the beginning of our modern global community.

Propaganda Meet the Cold War

Tonight in my History 102 class we discussed the propaganda used during the early years of the Cold War, specifically looking the first five or so years following World War II. In these years, the U.S. found itself as a major world power. It also found itself pitted against its former ally, the U.S.S.R. Hence, propaganda was used in at least two main ways.
First, this early Cold War propaganda worked to position U.S. citizens against a very recent ally, one that made victory more possible in Europe. The U.S. perception of the U.S.S.R. was already an interesting one. In the 1920s, the U.S. experienced its first Red Scare, reacting to Lenin’s overthrow of the Russian government. While initially many Americans supported this revolt, immediately the reality of Lenin’s communist state took hold. Quickly, socialist and communist groups nationwide felt the pain of discrimination.
However, with the Great Depression, both groups found some regained popularity (although it should be clearly noted that neither had any type of majority). When World War II broke out, Germany and the U.S.S.R. had brokered a tentative agreement that served their immediate interests. When Germany violated this agreement, the U.S.S.R. joined the allies. Americans had to move toward a more tolerant position of the nation. Fast forward to 1945, and the ideological and economic differences between the two nations quick became apparent. So, the U.S. used propaganda to help re-position Americans tolerance of the Soviet Union.
This quickly moved to a new problem: dealing with American fear. As soon as it was understood that the Soviet Union presented a real threat (particularly when they had the atomic bomb), Americans were fearful of nuclear attack. This is very understandable, recall the devastating impact of the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan.
This leads to the second main use of propaganda. It tackled such fear with re-painting atomic bombs as dangerous but not too dangerous! While scientists of the day proclaimed fallout shelters as potential to promote atomic war and actually would be unable to protect its inhabits from such powerful bombs; cleaver media tactics made it the immediate solution to atomic fear. This along with the that ducking and covering prompted Americans to be comfortable with a build of atomic weapons.
Hence a publicly supported cold war that continued to several decades.Oh propaganda, how the 50s loved thee!

Welcome!

Hello & welcome to a new fun blog to explore U.S. history. Look forward to new posts and feel free to debate and discuss all things related to U.S. history related.
While we all remember high school history filling our heads with dates and names that seemed meaningless, history is much more than that.
Take a moment and challenge your preconceived notions!

-Meg