The Cold War lasted for more than 40 years from 1947 to 1991. The USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics) was a communist country and Americans started looking at the USSR with suspicion after
WW2.
A) The Truman Doctrine
In March 1947, President Truman opposed the communist way of life and the free world. The
Truman Doctrine was a strategy of “containment” of Communism. Truman believed that if countries
were prosperous, they would not be tempted by communism. That’s why the US proposed the
Marshall plan to help Europe rebuild in giving 12 billion dollars to 16 countries in Western Europe.
In 1949, the US formed an Alliance with 11 countries creating NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization). The countries in NATO agreed to defend one another against communist aggression.
In 1948, the Soviet started blockading Berlin. The US, Great Britain and France set up a huge airlift to
supply food to the inhabitant of Berlin. The blockade was lifted in 1949 but tensions continued. The
Cold War had started.
B) Fighting Communism at home : the witch hunt
At the end of the 1940’s and in the 1950’s, fear and paranoia pervaded US society. The American
people started being suspicious of everyone and anyone. Anti-communist propaganda was wide-
spread. Being a real American meant being anti-communist.
In 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) began looking for communists in the
government and in society in general. Hollywood filmmakers and producers were said to be
communist. A blacklist of actors, producers and directors was established. They could no longer get
jobs in the film industry.
The witch hunt targeted both politicians and private citizens. One of the most famous cases was the
Rosenberg case: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were communists who lived in New York City and they
were arrested in July and August 1950. They were accused of giving information on the atomic bomb
to the Soviets (= they were supposed to be spies). They were convicted of treason and were executed
in 1953.
In February 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy gave a speech in which he said he had a list of 205
known Communists working in the State Department. McCarthy accused dozens of people working in
the government of being communists. McCarthyism lasted for years. But in 1954, McCarthy made a
huge mistake by attacking the army. At the time, the president was Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-
1961) who was an ancient US General. Eisenhower did not want McCarthy to tarnish the reputation
of the army. McCarthy was censored by the Senate in December 1954 and he died in 1957. The witch
hunt disappeared with McCarthy.
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