Page 125 - NS-2 Textbook

The Cold War Era, 1945-1991

Even before the surrender of Japan, the American public dated its wartime military gains and subjugated all the
had begtm to bring pressure on Congress to dismantle nations of Eastern Europe because the United States
the greatest military force ever assembled in human his- was unable to effectively contest this action. The U.S.
tory and "bring the boys home." Knowledgeable Ameri- Army Vlas too 'weakened, and these areas were beyond
cans knew that the United States had acquired world- Navy range.
wide responsibilities by becoming a superpower. The America had only two options: make a diplomatic
cowltry could not retreat into isolationism as it had done protest or use the atomic bomb. The former could ac-
after World War I. Nevertheless, the rush to demobilize complish nothing without any power to back it up, and
was so swift that the American armed forces were soon American public opinion was solidly against war---espe-
rendered almost impotent. cially atomic war---even in the face of blatant Soviet ag-
Fronl a wartiIne Navy of nearly 3.5 million, ·within a gression in territories adjacent to the USSR.
year barely 500,000 remained. Of an army strength of President Tnunan, top officials in his government,
over 8 lnilliOll, only 1 million remained a year after the and United States military commanders soon became
Vllar ended, and that deterioration continued to a low of a\vare of the Soviet intentions. Soviet annexation of east-
only 600,000 by 1950. This drastic reduction in strength ern Poland and the Baltic countries; installation of Com-
made it difficult at times to man even the smaller nwn- munist governnlents in Eastern Europe; lneddling in the
bers of ships left in commission. Nearly all naval con- internal affairs of Iran, Turkey, and Greece; aiding Mao
struction "\,\Tas halted, and 2,000 vessels ·were deconmus- Zedong's Commlmists in the Chinese civil war; and the
sioned. Many of these were laid up in "mothballs" for creation of Communist puppet governments in East Ger-
future use in an enlergency, with their engines, hulls, and many and North Korea left no doubt.
guns covered with protective coatings. To arouse Americans 'who 'were again seeking a U re_
The American public had become complacent. There turn to normalcy," in March 1946 President Tnunan in-
appeared to be no remaining enemies in the ,vorld, and vited Winston Churchill to make a speech at Westminster
besides, the United States had a monopoly on the atomic College in Fulton, Missouri, in which he would issue a
bomb. It was assumed by many that the newly created strong warning concerning the USSR. In this speech
United Nations could solve any disputes that might arise Churchill stated, "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in
in a peaceful manner. the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the
In the face of this attitude, the Soviet Union quickly continent. .. ' From ,vhat I have seen of our Russian
resUlned the offensive in its '\val' against capitalism. It friends and allies during the war, I am convinced that
soon demonstrated that its strategic long-term goal of a there is nothing they admire so much as strength, and
Commlmist-dominated world remained unchanged. The there is nothing for which they have less respect than for
wartime alliance with the West had been only a tempo- 'weakness, especially nillitary weakness." Thus was born
rary tactical maneuver. the term given to the barrier between the West and com-
munisnl: the iroll curtaiH.
The American public was startled, but it was not
THE COLD WAR BEGINS
nloved tmvard significant action. When Truman pro-
Wllile Americans pinned their hopes on the United posed universal military training (the draft) as a means
Nations, sped their demobilization, and slashed the de- of rebuilding the services, Congress eventually re-
fense budget, the Soviets made only a token demobi- sponded with a Selective Service Act full of loopholes for
lization. By mid-1946 the Soviet Union had consoli- those who wished to avoid military service. The weak-

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